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Lectureship Books Lectureship, Summit, and Ministry Events
1975 1975: Abilene Christian College Lecture - Full Text Paul Southern
Gus Nichols
Melvin Wise
J. C. Bailey
C. E. McGaughey
See next page for additional authors
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_man Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, History of Christianity Commons, History of Religions of Western Origin Commons, Liturgy and Worship Commons, Missions and World Christianity Commons, Practical Theology Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons
Recommended Citation Southern, Paul; Nichols, Gus; Wise, Melvin; Bailey, J. C.; McGaughey, C. E.; McMillian, E. W.; Sanders, J. P.; Hogan, R. N.; Pryor, Neale; Kearley, F. Furman; and Lightfoot, Neil, "1975: Abilene Christian College Lecture - Full Text" (1975). Lectureship Books. 56. https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_man/56
This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Lectureship, Summit, and Ministry Events at Digital Commons @ ACU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Lectureship Books by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ACU. Authors Paul Southern, Gus Nichols, Melvin Wise, J. C. Bailey, C. E. McGaughey, E. W. McMillian, J. P. Sanders, R. N. Hogan, Neale Pryor, F. Furman Kearley, and Neil Lightfoot
This book is available at Digital Commons @ ACU: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_man/56
''I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL ... "
being the Abilene Christian College Annual Bible Lectures
1975
Published by
ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE Book Store
ACC Station Abilene, Texas7960 1 ABILEN.E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
COPY RIGHT , I 975
Abil ene Christian College TABLE OF CONTENTS
Main Speeches
I AM OT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL, Paul Southern ...... 7 THE BLOOD OF CHRIST , Gus Nichols ...... 22 THE CROSS OF CHRIST , Melvin Wise ...... 33 LIFT UP YOUR EYES, J.C . Bailey ...... 52 CHRIST IS THE ANSWER, C. E. McGaughey ...... 69 0 LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO! E. W. McMillan ...... 8 1 THE POWER OF SUFFERING LOVE, J.P. Sanders ...... 92 THE GOSPEL I EA RTHEN VESSELS, R. N. Hogan ...... 102
Exegesis of Difficult Passages
THE "WEAK" BROTH ER OF ROMANS 14, Neale Pry or ...... I 09 THE "T ONGU ES" OF I CORINTHI ANS 14, F. Furman Kearley .. 12 1 I CORINTHIANS 11 :2- 16, Neil Lightfoot ...... 132 PREFACE When the apo tie Paul originally spoke th e word s " I am not a hamed of the go pel ... " he was writing to Christian who were living out th eir co mmitm ent to Je us in an ex tr emely ho tile, intimid atin g and almo t overpowering o ciety. The pagans of ancient Rome did not und erstand , nor could th ey, wh at it meant to be a Christian. Th eir ec ular, paga n mind were boggled by th e very idea of one believing such " non ense." Th erefo re, for one to become a Chri sti an in th at ancie nt environm ent was a step th at took tr emendou cour age and faith . We live in a world that is no le challenging in its own way. Th e thr ea ts to faith are till ever pre ent about us. Th e gods of sec ulari m and mate riali m till make it unpopul ar in mo st situ at ion s to be a dee ply devo ted child of God. The tempt ation to kee p our com mitm ent secret is stilt very rea l in 20th Century Am erica .
Paul' word s, " l am not ashamed of the gospel," need to co me ringing aga in and aga in in every mod ern Chri tian' s ear , reminding us of th e thr ea ts, th e challenge , th e di courage ment of th e dedica ted life.
Th e mes ages in thi vo lum e should have spec ial mea nin g becau e th ey are delivered by men of uniqu e wi dom and ex perience . Eac h man delivering a th eme speec h i past sixty five year of age. Th e e men are living exa mpl es of Chri tian in our day who are not asham ed of th e gospel.
Thi s volume goes forth with th e fervent prayer that the me s ages it co nt ain may be helpful to eve ryone who read s it in his own determin ation to stand gallantly in his own pla ce as on e who will never be a hamed of th e gloriou s gospe l of the Son of God. CARL BRECH EE N Dire ctor MAIN SPEECHES
"I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL"
Paul Southern
Education: B.A., Abilene Christian College, 1930 (Bible Major) M.A., Texas Christian University, l 933 (Education) B.D., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1946 Th.D., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary , 1948 (Greek N.T.) Graduate Studies, University of Chicago, 1940 Dr. Southern has been a gospel minister since 1924 . He has served churches in Weatherford , Denison and Abilene, Texas , and has done evangelistic work throughout the United States and abroad. He is a world traveler, having visited some 45 or 50 nations on every continent.
Dr. Southern taught 34 years at Abilene Christian College as professor of Bible and Greek , 19 of those years as Head of the Depart ment of Bible.
He is actively engaged in various aspects of personal , marriage and family coun seling. He has served as presi dent of numerous organi zations involving mental health work . He holds memberships in the National Council on Family Relations, Texas Coun cil on Family Relations , the National Asso ciation of Retired Persons , the National Retired Teachers Association , and serves on the advisory board of the Regional Council on Aging.
7 8 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LEC:TURES
The Epistle of Paul to the Romans is the greatest discus sion of Christian doctrine ever written. It is also the most systematic of Paul's letters, but it does not contain a systematic theology. The book is a genuine letter and not just a theologi cal treatise .
The theme of Romans is the univer sal need of righ teou ness and the way to ecure it. Wisdom will not work , since it is stripped of pow er by man's pride which makes him want to play the part of God . The Law is likewise ineffective , since it only heightens man's awareness of sin, and tricks him into thinking that by works he can ment salvation. In this grand epistle we note how God has revealed the way of righ teousness through Christ. The gospel presented produ ce a spiritual freedom which the legalist does not know . It is a freedom , however , that is inspired , guided, and disciplined by the inspired word working within man in accordance with the most inclusive and severe law of all, the law of love.
The mighty theme of this epistle is stated in chapter one , verses sixteen and seventeen. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: a it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith." The reality of this theme was brought out in the experience of Paul , and served as a tremendous influence to inspire later leader s to rebel against arbitrary authoritarianism and narrow ecclesiasticism, all of which tried to imprison the true spirit of the Lord Jesus. It answers forever the practical question , "What must I do to be saved?" It is a uperb example of the integration of doctrin e with missionary purpose . I AM OT-ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL 9
Th e lett er to th e Roman s is unqu estion ably Paul 's greatest do ctrin al masterpiece. Here we see him rise majes tically from th e grovelling level of Corinthi an fac tion s and personality probl ems to the univ ersal scop e of redemption. In each generation Rom an s has erved as a remind er to th e church of her tremendou s respon ibility - th e pro clamation of the go pel of salvation to all mankind. Surely, "I am not a ham ed of the gosp el" is on e of the grea te t ubj ects th at ever engaged th e pow ers of burnin g eloqu ence or in pired poeti c fire. But their 1_11eanin g of sham e d.iffered from our . Thi s text is best und er tood in the Jigh t of Isaiah 28: 16 quot ed by Paul in Rom ans I 0: 11. "For the Scriptur e saith , Whosoever believeth on him , shall not be a barned." Th e word tran slated " asham ed" means "c onfound ed," or "di sappoint ed." So Paul is here aying : "I am not disappoint ed in the gospel; it has never let me down ." All who reject Je us and put their tru st in oth er shall be con founded , disappoint ed of th eir hop e, and ashamed.
The Person of the Gospel
I am not a barned of the Person of the gospel. Oth er movement s make much of idea , abstraction s, and phil o- ophi cal reasoning. Th e gospel exalt s a Per on , the Lord Jesus Chri t. It is obviou to Bible tud ent s that the ew Te tament is th e "Je sus Book " of all literatur e. From beginnin g to end , its cont ent s are dominat ed by th e personality of Jesu . "Behold , I lay in Zion a chief corn er ston e, elec t, prec ious: And he that believe th on him shall not be put to sham e" (I Peter 2:6 ). Thi s i th e Magna Carta of our faith. Let down all your weight on Him , and He will never let you down .
No on e ever become s excit ed over th e philo oph er's dis cussion of love, or the psychologi st's analysis of love. Th e lO ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLL EGE L ECTURES
grea test for ces of life grip us and change us, not in th e form of abstr ac tion s, but in th e form of per son s. Someon e a ked Dr . William James, the Harvard p ychologi st, to explain spiri tu ality . He hesit ated for a mom ent , and th en point ed to a man who , he thou ght , po essed it. Hi definition o f spiri tu alit y was wrapp ed up in a warm , vibra nt perso nality. It is love embodi ed, per on alized , th at makes th e heart bea t faster.
Jesus Chri st is the embodim ent of all th at is grea t and goo d. Th e E ternal Word " beca me flesh, and dw elt amon g us (a nd we beheld his glory , glory as of th e only begott en of th e Fath er), full of grace and truth " (John I : 14 ). God put "a ll thin gs in subj ection und er hi fee t, and gave him to be head over all thin gs to th e chur ch, whi ch is his body , th e fuln ess of him th at fille th all in all" (E ph esian I :22, 23). Paul point s to Je u a th e equi valent of the gospel. In th e op enin g sent ence of his epistle to th e Rom an th e apostle affirm ed th at Jesus Chri st our Lord " was de termin ed th e Son of God with pow er acco rding to th e pirit of holin e s, by th e re urr ec tion from th e dead" (Rom ans I : 4 ).
In an age of doubt and infid elity , it is refreshin g and reassurin g to kn ow that Paul regard ed th e In carnate Chri t as exi tin g befo re His Incarn ation. In saying th at God ent " his own Son in th e likene s of inful flesh" (Rom an 8 :3), th e apo tie how ed th at he was not asham ed of the virgin birth of Jesus. He was not ashamed of th e lowly way in whi ch Jesus came into th e world . Th e life of pov erty whi ch Je u lived did not make Paul ashamed of th e Per son of th e go pel. Neith er was he ash amed of th e ignominiou s dea th of Chri st. " For I determin ed not to know anythin g amon g you , save Jesus Chri st, and him crucified" (I Corinthian s 2:2; cf. Philippi ans 2 : 8). Hi only ground of glorying wa th e cro s of J AM NOT ASHAMEDOF THE GOSPEL 11
Christ. The message of Paul was this mystery of God. "But far be it from me to glory , save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Ga latian 6: 14).
Paul was not ashamed of the resurrection of Chri t, the miracle of miracles , which declared the Saviour to be what he truly was (Rom ans I :4). Offsetting the Epicurean philos ophy, the apost le made morality turn on the hope of immor tality. We cannot afford to be ashamed of the Person of the gospel, when the basis of our hope i in the fact that "Christ died for our sins acco rdin g to the criptures; and that he wa buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptur e " (I Corinthians 15: 3-4). Christ must be Lord of all, or He will not be Lord at all.
The Power of the Gospel
I am not ashamed of the power of the gospel. The world into which the go pel came wa int erested in power, and had many contacts with it. In any direction that one looked, evidences of power cou ld be seen, heard , and felt. Int ellect was worshipped in Greece , which boasted of its philo ophical power. Athenian philosophers "spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing" (Acts I 7: 21 ). Prophetic power was the concept of the Jew , since God had intrusted them with the oracle of God (Roman 3:2) . Military might was the forte of Rom e, which ruled the Mediterranean world. Roman chariot and legions were a familiar ight in the society of the first century.
By the same irony of fate that brought Rome to du t, our own self-glorifying civilization is so near the brink of l 2 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTUR ES
co lJap e that fear i a nightmare. The age of nuclear power is here , and even the expert disagree about what i ahead. We armed because we were afraid, and now we are afraid because we are armed. uclear warheads and the gimmicks of secu lar cience cannot bring to fearfu l hearts "the peace of God, whi ch passeth aJJ understanding" (Phi lippian s 4:7). If we are to stand "again t the principalities, again st the powers , against the world rulers of this darkne s against the spiritua l hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places," we will have to take up the whole armor of God (Cf. Ephe ian 6: I 0-20).
The almighty power of God accompanie the preaching of the gospel. Nothing but the power of God can save a fallen , sinful oul. The gospe l is a mighty agency, set in motion by God Him elf and not by man. It is God-kind of power , in contradistinct ion to all other kinds of power. In other words , the gospel has all of God's omnipotence behind it. It is a real force , not a sham force like o much we ee in the secu lar world. (Cf. I Corinthians I : 18; 2:4; 4:20; I The aloni an l : 5). " Dunami s" is often u ed of exerted pow r especia lly divine, superhuman power.
Paul declared that the gospe l is "the power of God unto alvation to every one that believeth" (Romans I: 16). It matters not how sin ful and sordid one's life is, through obedient faith in Jesus and subjection to His will , a per son i brought into the covenant of God and the fellow hip of saints. We stood one time at midnight on skidrow in New York City. Without taking a single step, we counted thirty seven human wrecks , derelicts on the idewalks of time. The combined nuclear re ource of all the nation co uld not save one of tho e sou ls, each of which was made in the image of God. On the other hand, God's gospel was capable of saving every one upon faithful obedience to it (Romans 6: 17-18). I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL 13
The Priority of the Gospel
I am not asham ed of th e priorit y of th e gospel. It ha no equ al, tol erates no rival, and admit s no ubstitut e. Th e New Te tament leaves no indi ca tion th at th ere is a revelation to follow. It was given in its co mpl e teness once and fo r all, and is ju st as relevant in th e twenti eth century a it was in th e first. " His divin e pow er hath grant ed unt 9 us all thin g th at pert ain unto life and godlin ess, through th e knowl edge of him th at ca lled u by his own glory and virtu e" (2 Peter l :3) . It will furni h th e man of God compl etely unto every good work (2 Timothy 3 : 17).
Pau·I wa th orou ghly convin ced th at he had procla imed th e full 1go pel, and he pr onoun ced cond emn ation upon any man or · angel that preached anyt hin g contrar y to it (Gala tian I : 6-9) . Jud e exhort ed Chri stian s to "C on tend earnestly for th e faith whi ch was on ce for all delivered unt o th e saint s" (Jud e 3) . "On ce for all" describes what is of perpetu al validity and never requir e repetiti on. Since the truth ha been de livered for all tim e, it i a perm anent depo sit th at will n ever be sup er ede d , am end ed or modified by divine authority. Inspir ed men o f th e first century affirm ed th at th e New Covenant is of everla tin g dur ation (Hebrew 13:2 0-2 1).
Many religioni ts in th e modern world are att emp tin g to am algam ate hum an philo ophy and divin e scriptur e. Th eir th eolo gical gobbl edy gook makes it diffi cult to tell wh ere one end s and th e oth er begins. It i no wond er th at many dedica ted Chri ti ans are uspiciou s of int ellec tu al eggheads. Any person who tri es to blend th e gospel with philo ophy , how ever, has overlook ed th e priorit y whi ch th e New Testa.men t pla ce upon th e go pel. Th e go pel is not, and never has been, a philo ophy. Learn of th e philo oph er, and 14 ABIL ENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTUR ES you find restle sness. Learn of the Christ , "and ye shall find rest" (Matthew 11: 28-30). Philosophy deals with the love of human wisdom , whereas the go pel is divine revelation . In a brief but definitive manner , Paul spoke to this point when he wrote: "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world ; hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For eeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God , it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom : but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumb ling-blo ck, and unto Gentiles foolishne s; but unto them that are called , both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God , and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men ; and the weakness of God is tronger than men" (I Corinthians I :2 1-25). It is impossible for intellectualism to satisfy the ultimate longin gs of the human heart. Sophisticated learning may look down its nose at the simp le gospel of Christ , but in the end the truth of God will prevail . The firm foundation of God stands and will endure (2 Tim. 2: 19) . In spite of these inspired affirmations, religious philos ophers are always eager to embrace "some new things" .(Acts I 7: 21). It is no wonder that Paul warned against those who would turn away from the truth and turn aside unto fables (2 Timothy 4: 1-5). During the la t two hundred years , many religious bodies have arisen claiming new revelations. Such events have caused some within the church to question their own faith and wonder if they really have the comp lete revelation from God in the Bible. With the coming of Situ ation Ethics and The New Morality, modern America is worshipping at the shrine s of sex, science , and silver. In our crass materiali m we have largely forgotten God. We have also l AM NOT ASHAMEDOF THE GOSPEL 15
forgotten that one soul is worth more than all the world (Matthew 16:26). The value of human life has deteriorated , because we have been grasping for things that money can buy. We are acquiring more material things at the expense of spiritual things . Since many Christians are satisfied with mere church-going and sermon-listening, we have lost to a large extent the true spirit of devotion and evangelism.
In an age of gross rebellion against the established church, itching ears have no difficulty in finding something to tickle them. Fickle flirtation with Christianity abounds today. The immorality and lascivious practices of a pagan world are making inroads upon the church in many places. There are demands for a watered-down and more palatable message. Some hold that the New Testament is outmoded as they look for a new gospel for our space age. The "Gospel of Carnegie" threatens the gospel of Christ , and from some we hear more of Peale than we do of Paul. But when storms come and shadows fall, we find Peale appalling and Paul appealing. Faithful stewards of the word are determined that the church's firm foundation shall not crumble. Since Christ is God's total revelation of Himself to man, there is nothing lacking in Christ for man. "In him all things consist" (Colossians I: 17), "and in him ye are made full, who is the head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2: I 0).
In the first century, gospel preachers changed the world ; in the twentieth century, the world is changing gospel preachers. The gospel needs not so much to be defended as it needs to be declared. It needs not so much to be guarded as it needs to be given. 16 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTUR ES
The Purpose of the Gospel
I am not ashamed of the purpose of the gospel. Liberal theologians of the twentieth century have empha ized only the social aspects of the gospel. They see the New Testament as a book of life but not of doctrine. Social welfare and community programs have replaced spiritual conversion and church expansion. Propon ents of the "Socia ] Gospel" are more interested in better hospitals than they are in bett er hearts. What they consider the "Christian Ethic" finds the wcrld spiritually Jost and leaves it that way. Effo rts at evangelism from the New Testament viewpoint are con sidered "old hat," outmoded, and narrow-minded. A leading representative of this "New Theology" said: "A sermon on conversion when I am in the assemb ly will cause me to walk out. I want a program that is devoted to the ailments of mankind and the improvement of the social milieu."
In the light of the New Testament, what is the real purpose of the gospel? Paul answered this question in terms of the salvation of man (Rom ans I: 16-1 7). In His farewel l commission , Jesus said : " Go ye into all the world , and preach the gospel to the whole creation . He that believeth and i baptized shall be saved ; but he that disbelieve th shall be cond emned" (Mark 16: 15-16) . Was he intere ted only in saving the human body from the ravage of disea e and disaster? The salvation of which He spoke mu t have encompassed more than the improvement of human life sty les. (Cf . Matthew 6: 19-34). Both reason and revelation atte t to the fact that "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment" (Heb rews 9:27). Jesus said: "For what shall a man be pro ft ted , if he shall gain the who le world , and forfeit hi life? or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?" (Matthew 16:26) . I AM NOT ASHAMEDOF THE GOSPEL 17
Social welfare comes as a natural consequence when people are truly converted to Christ. Pure religion causes a Christian "to visit the fatherle s and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (James I :27; cf. 2: 14-26). "So then , as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith" (Galatians 6: I 0). But Christ demands the heart as well as the head and the hand in order to the salvation of man, "for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Realizing that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), we declare that the purpose of the gospel is salvation from sin and unto sanctification (Romans 6: 17-18). This purpose was paramount in the preaching on Pentecost , and it has never been changed by divine authority.
The Plan of the Gospel
I am not ashamed of the plan of the gospel. In some church circles, sophisticated brethren look down their noses at the idea of a plan. There was a time when brotherhood polemics aired the question, "The Man or the Plan - Which?" In the light of the scriptures, it is not a question of "either or," but a matter of "both - and." Jesu s identified himself with His teachings when He said: "He that rejecteth me, and . receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake , the same shall judge him in the last day" (John 12:48). From the Sermon on the Mount to His ascension in to heaven, Jesus emphasized the divine imperative of hearing His words and doing them (Cf. Matthew 7: 24-29). Whoever, therefore , "goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Chri t, hath not God: he that abideth not in the teaching , the same hath both the Father and the Son" (2 John 9). 18 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTUR ES
The New Testament reveals that the gospel is universal in application and international in scope. It transcends racial barriers and eliminates all national boundary lines. Since all peoples are sinful before God, the riches of divine grace are made available to all mankind. By the grace of God , Jesus tasted "of death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9). The whole world is the field (Matthew 13: 38), and "The seed is the word of God" (Luke 8: 11). By means of the gospel, Christ broke down the pales of the Jewish assembly. By the same token. He forbids forever the building of any other partition wall of schemes and terms of Christian fellowship imposed by human authority. In His farewell commission, Jesus commanded the apostles to "p reach the gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16: 15), and the church is still charged with this eternal purpose (Ephesians 3: 10-12).
Po ten ti ally, the gospel makes possible the salvation of all men. (Titus 2:1 1). ActuaI1y, it promises to save only those who submit to it (Titus 2: 11-14). Paul declared, "it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Romans 1: 16). We become the friends of Jesus only when He becomes our Lord. (Cf. John 14: 15; 15: 14). "But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness" (Romans 6:17-18) . Salvation is a personal and conditional matter. Whosoever will, let him come and "take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22: 17; cf. Matthew 16:24). The gospel message to the alien sinner is: "He that believeth and is baptized shaI1 be saved ; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned" (Mark 16: 16). I AM NOT ASHAMEDOF THE GOSPEL 19
The People of the Gospel
I am not ashamed of the people of the gospel. By means of an obedient faith in Christ and subjection to His will, inful human beings are "called out of darkness into his marvelous light ," and become a people for God's own pos ession (I Peter 2: 9). They are added to the church which Jesus built , and which He purchased with His own blood. (Cf. Matthew 16: 18 ; Acts 2:47; 20 :28). The people of the gospel constitute the church of the gospel, the fairest gem ever strung from the dome of heaven. Christ "loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might pres ent the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25-27). Since the church i the bride of Chri t (2 Corinthians 11 :2; Revelation 2 1 :2, 9) , any belittling of the go pel people i a slap in the face of God. Any person who make fun of the church and her program " hath trodd en under feet the Son of God , and hath counted the blood of th e covenant wher ewith he was sanctified an unholy thing." (Hebrews 10:29). With some people , critici m of the church has be come a per ennial pastime . They consider the institutional churc h a kind of phari aical fossil whi ch has emerged from the Dark Ages. They speak of "three ongs and a prayer" a if uch piritual devotion s constituted a plague of some ort.
In some chur ch circle , every time a group gets together for any purpo se a carnival atmosphere prevail , and the aroma of coffee fills the air. Now there is i:iothing wrong with fellowship among the people of God. We are persuaded that some congregation .s could be improved if the brethren would 20 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES put a littl e more ocial caff ein in th eir coff ee water. But thou shall not cru cify th e peopl e of th e go pel on a cro ss of coff ee, confu sion , and conf etti! " For th e kingdom of God is not eating and drinkin g, but right eou sness and peace and joy in th e Holy Spirit " (Roman s 14 :17) . We have lost om e chur ch memb ers because th ey became too sophi sticated to a ociate with th e peopl e of th e go pel. It is heart enin g to know , how ever, that Je us identifi e Him self with Hi aint . (Cf. Matth ew 18:2 0 ; 25 :3 14 6; 28: 18-20 ; Act 7 :56; 27:23). From Him we have th e assurance that : "Who oever hall be ashamed of me and of my word s in thi s adult erou s and sinful generation , th e Son of man also shall be ashamed of him , when he com eth in th e glory of his Fath er with th e holy angels" (Mark 8 :38 ).
The Promi es of the Go pel
I am not ashamed of th e promi es of th e go pel. We have heard a great deal in rece nt years con cernin g "Pie in th e sky in th e sweet by and by ." Peopl e who believe and pro claim th e ew Testament me age con cerning etern al alvation run the risk of incurring deri ion and laught er. Many religioni sts hold that th e only heaven to be exp erienced i in th e flesh-in thi life, here and now . Th ey have espou sed th e hedoni tic philo ophy of the rich man who said : "Tak e thin e ea e, eat , drink , be merry " (Luk e 12: 19). Th is man's apo troph e to his soul is thoroughly Epicurean , for hi oul feeds on his good . It is etern ally tru e, how ever, th at " Man shall not live by bread alon e, but by every word th at pro ceedeth out o f th e mouth of God " (Matth ew 4:4 ). Chri tian are heart ened by th e fact God " hath grant ed unto u his pr ecious and exceed ing great promi e , that through th ee ye may be part aker of th e divine natur e, havin g e cap ed from th e corrupti on th at is I AM NOT ASHAMEDOF THE GOSPEL 21 in the worJd by lust" (2 Peter I :4 ). The promises of the gospel are precious because of what they mean to the souls of men. They are exceeding great becau e they include the remis ion of in (Acts 2:38) ; peace that passes all under standing (Philippian .4:7) ; the promi e of eternal life (Matthew 25 :46); and a share in the divine nature (2 Peter I :4) .
Belief in a future life is the appetite of reason and the assurance of revelation. If there were no future Ufe, our souls would not long for it. " If we have only hoped in Christ in thi life , we are all men most pitiable" (I Corinthians 15: 19). Even in the night of death, Christian hope sees a star and Ii tening love can hear the ru tling of angelic wings. Christians sing "Heaven hold all to me ," becau e they believe there i a land beyond the river , "Where the surge cease to roll." In expre sing thi s faith Paul was in pired to say: "We know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be di solved, we have a building from God , a house not made with hands , eterna l, in the heaven " (2 Corinthian 5: 1). This sacred promi e was not to him only , "but al o to all them that have loved his appearing" (2 Timothy 4:8). THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST Gus Nichols
Gus Nichols was born January 12, 1892, in Walker County, Alabama. He was baptized in 1909 and began preaching in 1917 in the cou nty of his birth. He is presently minister for the church in Jasper , Alabama, and has been working with this congregation since 1932. Prior to that time, he served the congregations in Cordova and Millport , Alabama.
Mr. Nichols attended Alabama Christian College and serves as a member of the board of trustees of that college. In addition , he is a member of the board of trustees of Child haven Children's Home .
Nichols has been a staff writer for the Gospel Advocate for over 25 years. He has authored several books, including debates and sermons. He has participated on Bible lect ure ships and training programs throughout the brotherhood.
Gus Nichols was married to Matilda Frances Brown in 1913. They have eight chil dren, and three of their sons are full-time preachers .
Greetings to all of you , my fellow traveler s to eternity. I have always appreciated your invi tations and my visits here to speak in lectur e pro grams at Abilene Christian College. As a tru stee of
22 THE BLOOD OF CHRIST 23
Alabama Christian College, I bring you greetings and good wishes from that school. It is our hope and prayer that all of our colleges in the brotherhood may remain true to the word of God in all pha ses of their teaching and training of leader ship for our homes , our congregations, and in our nation. As a stream never rises higher than its fountain, our leadership in the home , the church , and nation, rarely ever rises above the homes, schools , and congregations which produced them. Only the truth of God's word and pure, primitive Christianity can make somebody out of nobody, and Christ came into this world to make som ebody out of us all.
The subject assigned unto me for this, the first lecture in this series is, "The Precious Blood of Christ." Our text is found in a statement made by the great apostle Peter. He wrote , "Ye know that we are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold .. . . but by the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish, and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory , that your faith and hope might be in God" (I Pet. 1: 18-21).
Blood! "The word is used (1) literally, as in Exodus 29: 12; Acts 17:26; (2) figuratively, for murder, Hab. 2: 12; Mat. 27: 24; and for the blood of Christ, the blood of the covenant, where the idea is the death of Christ on the cross, Rom. 3:25; 5:9; Eph. 1:7." (CRUDEN'S COMPLETE CONCORDANCE, (P. 47). There is no difference in being saved by the "blood" of Christ and in being saved by his "death."
The apostle was, no doubt, trying to shock us out of our 24 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
spiritual sleep and indifference when he wrote about "The Precious Blood of Christ." We are tempted by a worldly environment to overlook the most important things which all of us know about.
Is it not possible that in our great progress of the last two thousand years, we have been surrounded and flooded with so many good things that we are losing sight of the importance and value of the blood of Crist? Is it pos ible that we have become so worldly minded that we are not able to properly appreciate the death of Christ for our sins? Paul says, "That Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures" (I Cor. 15: 1-4). We are told in this context that this is intended of God to be "gospe l," or good news unto all people (See Luke 2:6-12) .
I once read of a captain of an army who was so provoked by so many of the soldiers committing crime in a nearby city that he gave a decree unto them that the next soldier found guilty of a certain crime in the future would have both of his eyes gouged out. To his great disturbance, the first soldier brought before him , and found guilty of this particular crime was his own son! So, what did he do? What cou ld he have done under the circumstances? He decided to show mercy unto the young man and spare him his sight. However, in order to hold the respect of others composing his army, and to be just as well as merciful, he fir t gouged out one of his own eyes, and then removed only one of his son's eyes. In this, he was considered to be just , as well as merciful, as a great and wise captain . He not only kept his own self-respect, but preserved the respect and devotion of the whole army . Of course this son never forgot the great act of love and kindness of his dear father. THE BLOOD OF CHRJST 25
But this was comparatively nothing in the light of what God ha done for us! He gave His Son to suffer and die on the old rugged cross for our sins. God did not give som e little something like an "e ye" to save us, but "His only begotten Son" (Jn . 3: 16). At the baptism of Je us, God's voice from heaven said , "This is my beloved Son , in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3 : 17). Again , he said at the tran sfiguration , "This is my beloved Son , in whom I am well pleas ed ; hear ye him." (Matt. 17:5).
God's gift of his own Son to come into a wicked world like thi s to be sland ered and persecuted , and finally crucified between two thieves in order to save us from everlasting punishment , a well as from a life of sin here , is inco m prehensible proof of the magnitud e of His marvelous love for us! Christ was his only begotten Son , begotten of the Virgin Mary , by whom he became a living human being as to his outward man . He was closer to the heart of God than any oth er being in existence, either in he aven or earth. Becau se Christ had been with God from all eternity before the virgin birth , they loved each other with infinite love . Still , God gave Him to die for us, that we might go to heaven. If all the parental love were added to the Christian love of this world , the whole of it would not be comparable to the love which God had for His Son and for a lost and hopeless human race! God' love for us is as much greater than our love for those de arest to our hearts, a He is greater in wi dom and power than mankind. Yet , millions seem not to appreciate uch marvelous love as is expressed in the glorious good news of the go pel of Christ (Rom. 1: 16; Luke 2: 8-1 0).
Many eem to forget that God could not have been a good and ju t God , had he eliminated the gift of His Son for 26 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES us, and saved us in our sins, and without (;Onvers1on on our part (Acts 3: 19). Paul says, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood , to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness : that he might be just, and the ju tifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom . 3:25, 26). The apo tie is telling us here that God could not have been just in saving a lost world in its sins, and without any change or conversion on man's part. God would not have been "just" in hi own infinite wisdom, had he decided to populate heaven with a wicked world of people without their being fit for heaven.
It would not have been fair on God's part to let the wicked (who are rapidly ruining this world by populating it more and more with criminals, hatred , wars, evil, and strife) be associated with the righteous and all little innocent children in heaven. So, the apostle is telling us that God gave His Son so that He Himself might be righteous and just in saving those who will believe in Him with joyful trust and loving obedience to the gospel.
One of the most wicked things which we can imagine would be for our President , ,md the rulers of aU other nations, to release all prisoners and criminals and let them go free to wreck and ruin our society. No honest citizen would be in favor of such a move on the part of our rulers and leadership.
God not only gave His Son to hed His "Precious Blood" for our sins, "That he might be just" and "righteous" in saving us from hell and eterna l damnation, that we might go to heaven, but that his love thus expressed would convert us and make us fit for heaven. THE BLOOD OF CHRIST 27
Some who claim to believe in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ , who died for our sins, fail to manifest any such faith , or any love at all for the gospel of Christ. Many years ago, when a great religious assembly congregated to make their own rules and laws, they were confronted with a motjon: backed up by many delegates to the conference , that they remove all songs about the "blood" of Christ from their hymn books. They said, "Blood is a nasty and repulsive thing to have to think about in our worship." This is an example of how false denominational religions are. I once related this wicked move, and a young man approached me after the service with this information: He said, "your reference to removing songs about the blood of Christ from song books , reminded me of my mother's blood." Then he told me how that when he was a child his mother snatched him and his small brother off the railroad tracks, from in front of a fast moving passenger train, and saved their lives. But she, in so doing , stumbled and fell in front of the train and her body was torn to pieces by the train. Then this brother told me that the most sacred thing he ever saw was his mother's blood on the cross-ties and up that railroad track . He did not think of her blood which was shed for the two of them as being something "filthy," and disgusting to think about. Their lives were saved by it, and all that they were, and ever expected to be in this world was because of that blood which to them was "Precious blood!" (I Pet. 1: 18-21)
I'd rather have the blood of Jesus , and all that it means to me, than to own all the worlds which God by Christ created in the beginning (Heb . 1: 1-3; John l : 1-3; Gen. 1: 1; John 17:5). Furthermore , I would rather have the salvation and the hope of heaven which I have because of the precious blood of Christ, than to be given a million worlds like this. I love to live in this beautiful and lovely world , but not 28 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
without God, nor his beloved Son. If I were offered a world like thi for every day that I would live in the sinning business, I would consider it a grand insult.
I love to think and ing about the "precious blood of Christ." One cannot believe the gospel of Christ and not believe in the efficacy and importance of the death and blood of Christ. Christ "died for our sins, according to the scriptures" (I Cor. 15: 3). Furthermore, he was raised from the dead the third day, and this proved him to be what he claimed to be- God's Son. It al o proved that there is life beyond death (I Thess. 4: 13-18; John 5:28-29; I Cor. 15: 1-58). Had Christ failed to rise from the dead, or had he not died, we could not have been positively certain that he is God's Son, and that there is life after death, as we can as it is (Acts I: 1-4, 9-11; I Cor. 15:20-26; 2 Pet. 3:9-16).
We should not think it strange that God would give his Son to die for us. Since God created Adam, man has had to live upon suffering and death of some kind. The life had to be crushed out of corn and wheat before we could live upon it as essential bread. The same is true of all other vegetables. In gathering them they are all put to death for us and that we might live upon them. The pork and beef , and all other flesh which we eat, had to die that we might live, even here in this world .
Please remember, we positively cannot go to heaven if we die in the sinning business. Jesus said unto some wicked sinners, who were rejecting him, "I go my way , and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come" (John 8:21). Again, He said, "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (V. 24). THE BLOOD OF CHRJST 29
It would be better never to have lived in this world than to die in sin, and as enemies of Christ! Jesus said, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you" (John 15:14). He also said, "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad" (Matt. 12:30). Thi life is not worth living to those who die in sin, and go into everlasting punishment, and everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41, 46 ; Mk. 9:43-48). Since Jesu came and lived and taught among men, there is no hope for those who reject him. He said, "If I had not come and spoken unto them , they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sins" (John 15: 22) . That is, if he had not come, they would not have been guilty of the awful sin of rejecting him. Again, he said, "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin; but now have they both een and hated both me and my Father" (v. 24).
"The precious blood of Jesus" was hed in order to draw man away from the sinning business unto a righteous life. In reference to all of these wonderful things , and to the power of the go pel, Je us said, "No man can come to me, except the Father which sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44). God draws us, not by some miracle wrought directly upon us, but by the gift of his Son, and this great teaching. He then referred back to the prophets as proof of the drawing power of the gospel, the good news of "The precious blood of Christ." He said, "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man that hath heard , and learned of the Father, cometh unto me" (John 6:45).
The death of Christ, and all the gospel truth connected therewith, is powerful enough to draw all men to Christ. 30 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
Indeed, he said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he shou ld die" (John 12:32-33). God knew that this wonderful world would draw and influence mankind to live for this life only, if they would permit it to do so. So, God designed that Christ, when lifted up on the cross for us, would become a greater drawing power to influence them to come to Him, if they would believe his gospel, which is God's power unto salvation (Rom. J:16;Heb. 4:12).
The sun, which is nearly one hundred million miles from our earth, has marvelous magnetic drawing power, and it holds our earth up in space at the right distance from it, so that we can live upon it (Job 26:7) . This gravity, or magnetic drawing power, reminds us of the gospel, and how Jesus, lifted · up in his death on the cross, draw us unto him through the power of the good news of it all, and not by miraculous power wrought upon sinners to force them to salvation.
God deals with mankind as free moral agents, and not as though they were mere machines, like a typewriter, to be operated as helpless and irresponsible machines. The sinner can wilfully and fully reject Christ and his "precious blood." Jesus said, "If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world" (John 12:47). Unbelief of this amazing and marvelous gospel, the sweetest story ever told, counteracts its amazing and 3aving power (Rom. I: 16). And this gospel can be rejected, for man is a free moral agent, and not a mere machine, as we have said already. Hence, Jesus said, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, shall judge him in the last day" (John 12:48). THE BLOOD OF CHRIST 31
We must, therefore , receive his "words." Unbelief of his "Words" is like taking a capsule of powerful, healing medicine in a glass capsule. Those who hear and read this very sermon wiJl not be influenced by it to obey the gospel and be saved unless they first of all believe the truth being taught herein (I Pet. 4: 17; Rom. 10: 16; 2 Thess. 1: 7-10).
Jesus' "words" are, as in the great commission, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mk. 16:15-16). The believer of his "words" is to be "baptized in to His death" so as to be saved by the benefits of that death (Rom. 6:3-4 , 5).
His word says those who have heard the gospel and believed it, and asked what to do, are to, "Repent , and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:36-38 , 41, 47). This is the way to obtain remission, or forgiveness of sins by his blood , for he says it was shed "For the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28). It is the blood that washes away our sins (Rev. 1: 5; 7: 14). This is why the penitent believer must be baptized to reach the blood. Ananias said unto Saul, "Arise , and be baptized, and wash away thy sins" (Acts 22: 16). It is "In" Christ that one becomes a "New creature ," and one is to be ·"Baptized into Christ" and "Into his death" (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3 :26-28 ; 2 Cor. 5: 17; Rev. 14: 13). It is in Christ that we have "redemption through his ·blood , even the forgiveness of sins," and we are "Baptized into Jesus Christ" (Col. l: 14; Eph. l :7; Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3: 27). Christ "Purchased" the church with "his blood," and we are baptized "Into the one body" - the church (Acts 20:28;Eph. 5:25;1 Cor. 12:13;Col. 1:18-24).
Even we Christians obtain forgiveness of sins, and are 32 ABILEN E CHRI STI AN COLL EGE LECTUR ES kept clea nsed from in, by being faithful and walking in the light , as Chri st is in th e light (I John I :7-10 ; 2: 1-2; J ame 5: 19-20 ; Rev. 2:4-5). In addition to all thi s, th e Chri tian life i by far th e best life to live even in thi s world. ''Th e way of tran gres or is hard " (Prov. 13: 15).
Th e grea t, cryin g need of our world , th erefor e, is for religiou freedom and pardon . Our world of sinn ers are lost, and have been, by th eir in , sold into piritu aJ, and sin ful slavery. " Let th e wicked for ake hi way, and th e unri ght eou m an hi thought s: and let him return unto the Lord , and he will have mercy upon him : and to our God , for he will abund antly PARDON " (I sa. 55 :7).
Th e late Broth er G. C. Brewer wrot e of two men who were at the clo e of a war , und er th e awful sent ence to be put to dea th for th eir awful crime committ ed durin g th e war. Broth er Brewer aid , how ever, th e President of the U.S.A. fin ally offered them a pardon. But only on e of th em acce pt ed the wond erful pardon off ered. Th e oth er on e rejected th e off er and was execut ed, or put to dea th , a though no mercy had been off ered him. It ho cked our nation to think a man would be o fooli h a to "rejec t" such a wond erful o ffer of mercy!
Rememb er, " th e whole world lieth in wickedn es "( I John 5: 19) . "Th ey are aJI und er sin" (Rom. 3 :9). "All have inn ed, and co me hort of th e glory of God" (Rom. 3 :23). Christ took our place and died for us, (Heb. 2: 9), and is the "A uthor of etern al salvation unto all th em that ob ey him" (Heb. 5:7-9). He even invite and pleads with you to com e (Matt. 11 :28-30). Don't R EJECT AND BE EXECUT ED COME ! THE CROSS OF CHRIST
Melvin J. Wi e
"But we preach Chri t crucified ...... " (I Corinthian I : 23)
Born December 7, 1906 Venu , Texa
Baptized by Horace W. Bu by on March 2, 1924, in Fort Worth , Texa
Married to tella Falkner on July 3, 1927 , in Fort Worth , Texa
Children: Jo Ellen (Mr . Warren 8 . High), Abilene, Texas, and Martha Ann (Mr . . M. Burton, 11) , olumbia, S. C.
Mr. Wi e began preaching in l 929 . He received training in Abilene
Chri tian College ( 1935- 7). He ha s served churches in Texa Georgia and Tenne ee, and i currently erving as as o ciate mini ter at Walnut Hill Church of hri t in Dallas.
Th e era s of Je us hri st stand at th e cent er of th e Chri tian religion.
33 34 ABIL EN E CHRISTIAN COLL EGE L ECTUR ES
No ot her symb ol o f Christianit y can be comp ared with it. It is th e domin at ing th eme in art and archit ectur e. It is th e imp elling motive in devot ion and service in th e Master's cau e.
Yet the cro s is not an image to be wo rshipp ed. Claudiu s of Turin (one of the early Euro pea n refo rm ers) declared that "We are to bear th e cro s, not to worship it. " We might as well wor hip every virgin becau e Jesu wa born of a virgin , or wor hip every manger becau e Je us wa born in a manger, as to wor ship th e cros . It i not th e cross that means so mu ch a th e cru cified.
To th e Corinthi ans Paul said , " But we preach Christ cru cified" (I Corinthi an I :23). To preach "C hrist cru cified " is to preac h that "C hrist died for our sins accordin g to th e scrip tures" (I Corinthi ans 15 :3). Preaching "Chri t cru ci fied ," " preachin g th e cro ss," and preachin g " th e go pel," are all expression s th at are equi valent to on e anoth er.
I. TH E PREACHING OF TH E CROSS RESULT ED IN TWO ATTITUD ES (I Corinthi ans I : 18) A. The Att itude of the Lost - "to them that p erish foo l ishness. "
We noti ce that it is not preaching th at was regard ed fool ishn ess, but th e cont ent of that which was preached- " th e cro ss." Th e pur e and un adult erat ed message of th e gospel of th e cro ss will always be un acce pt able to th e proud int ellec tu al. It is only wh en we adult erat e it with philo sophi cal reasonin g th at it find s acce pt ance with th e int ellectu ally proud , but when we do so we have made th e cro ss "of non e effect. " THE CROSS OF CHRIST 35
The Moderni ts re ent th e Bible do ctrin e of th e Atone ment. Th ey denoun ce it as a "b loody go pel," yet in this they are logical acc ording to th eir teaching , for th ey deny th e reality of sin . Lib eral th eologian s ignor e th e cause of sin , th e effec t of sin, and th e remedy for in . Mod ernists consider the death of Je su only as a martyr for His cause, but hell shake s with infernal laughter when it hear s th e cross of Chri st prea ched to inner s in th ese word s. Satan need not troubl e himself at all, for his "a ngels of light ," who thu preac h Christ, do hi work for hjm to hi e compl ete satisfa ction .
To the cultur ed Gre ek and to th e piou s Jew th e stor y of the cross sounded like sheer folly.
I . "To the Jews a stumbling block." (I Corinthians I :23)
To the Jew it was incredibl e that one whose life had ended upon a Roman cro could po s ibly be th e Chosen of God . Th ey point ed to their own law whj ch aid "He that i J-).angedi accur ed of God ... . " (Deuteronomy 2 1 :23).
2. "And unto the Greeks foolishness." (I Corinthians I :23)
The Gre ek (Gentil e ) repr esent ed .the speculativ e, philo sophi cal type of mind that took pride in continu ally wan dering around in the realm of th e relativ e, never arriving at any definite conviction or conclusion . Paul met thi s kind of philo ophy on Mars Hill in Ath en , wh ere he delivered hi famou discour e re cord ed in Acts 17 :22 -31 .
Unfortunately thi s " Greek" spint of human wi dom has invaded the Lord 's chur ch in our day . Ther e are tho se who are saying that truth is only relativ e and can never be abso- 36 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLL EGE L ECTUR ES lut e; th at man i a ubj ectiv e creatur e, for he subj ect him elf to his pa t exp eriences and form er teac hing s, his pr ejudi ce and to every environm ent to whi ch he is expo ed . Hence, man cann o t know ab olut e truth , for all he can know is altered and flavor ed by his own ubj ectivity. Th erefor e, all th e knowl edge of truth whi ch he po e e is on ly relative. But Je u said, " If any m an will do hi will he shall know of th e doc trin e . . . " (John 7 : I 7). Jesu furth er said " And ye shall know th e truth , and th e tru th hall make you free" (John 8:32).
B. The At titu de of the Saved - "but unto us which are saved it is the powe r of God." (I Corinthi an I : I 8)
Thi is not an attitud e o f philo ophi cal argum ent and expl anation , but of per ana l ex perience. Christianity i mor e th an an aca demi c qu e tio n to be determ ined and ex plained by th e phil o oph ers and scienti t . It is a laborat ory exp eri en ce of life, to be e tabli hed by proof. Je u declared th at pro of would com e by our own ex perience of alvation . Th e apostle John ex pr essed it in th ese word , " And hereby do we know him , if we keep his commandm ent s" (I John 2:3). Th erefor e , to tho se who have ex perienced thi s power, th e cro ss o f Chri ti s not a propo sition , but a demon stration .
II . TH E M ANJ G OF TH E CROSS. Why th e cro of 1 Chri t? What do e it mean?
A . The cro s of Christ reveals th e fa t and certainty of sin.
It helps us to und er tand th e horrib leness of sin. You have een how sin leave in it pathw ay brok en hom es, bleed ing heart , wrecked lives, and doom ed oul . Yet we try to THE CROSS OF CHRIST 37
tak e a light view of in , and refer to it as " human weakn ess," or " mi condu ct ," but God call it by its tru e name- SI . From many so-called Chri stian pu lpit s tod ay sin is never men tion ed , or if it i mention ed , it is ex plain ed away . Peopl e o f th e tw enti eth century prid e th emselves in th eir cu ltur e, refin ement , and re pectability . Th ey do not want to be told th at th ey are sinn ers. But th e pr eac hing of th e cro ss declares th e fac t o f in .
But wh at i sin?
I . Sin is transgression. ([ John 3 :4)
" Tran sgres ion " is from th e Latin " tran sgredi "; " tran " meaning " over or acro s "; "g redi " mea nin g " to tep or to walk." Hence " tran sgre sion " mean "to tep over" or " to walk aero s." God ha e tabli hed a bound ary line betw een good and evil, right and wrong , and wh enever we ' tep over" or " walk aero " thi s line into th e forbidd en territor y o f evil, we are guilty of intru sion or trespa sing· we are brea kin g God 's law ; we are guilty of in .
2. Sin is unrighteousness. (I John 5 : 17)
We can perh ap bett er und er tand "unri ght eou sness" by looking at its oppo ite- " right eou ne ." David said , ' . .. all thy commandment s are right eou ness" (P aim I 19: 172) . Th erefor e, right eou sne s co mes by keeping God ' co mm and ment s. Disob edience of God 's commandm ent s is " unri gh teou ne ." What is th e grea test sin on e can co mmit ? Sur ely it mu t be by breakin g th e great est commandm ent (Matth ew 22:38) . 3S ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
3. Sin is ommi ssion- to know and not do God 's will. (James 4 : 17)
Submi sion to God 's will is requir ed , and a failur e to do thi s is nothing short of rebellion and rebellion is sin. Sin incurs th e pen alty of death (Ezekiel 18 :20 ; Roman s 6:2 3). No man ha th e ability to ave hims elf from sin' s penalty or clea n e his own heart from its corruption. Th erefore, man' s only hop e for salvation from in is to be found on a lon ely , barren , skull -shap ed hill , out ide th e old walled city of Jeru alem , upon whi ch we see thr ee era es. A thief is on eac h side of th e centr al cro ss, and upon thi s era is th e Man of Sorrow , th e Prin ce of Peace, heaven' s own appointed Messenger to thi s sin-ridd en world. Who brou ght Him to thi s place of horror ? Who infli cted thi s hid eou tortur e upon th e Man who came to redeem us from sin? You did and I did ; it was yo ur sin and min e th at nailed Je u to th e era . God 's proph et of lon g ago said , " All we like sheep have gon e astray ; we have turn ed every on e to his own way ; and th e Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53 :6).
Paul said, " For all have inn ed , and com e short of th e glory of God " (Rom ans 3:23) . Here th e apo tie declares th at "a ll have inn ed ," not "a ll were born in sin." We have been "b laming " Adam long enough . Ther e is no ground in the Scriptur e for "ori ginal" or "inh erit ed " sin . Sin i an act committ ed by an individu al (I John 3:4). God' word says, " Th e oul th at inn eth , it shall die . Th e son shall not bear th e iniquity of th e fath er, neith er hall th e fath er bear the iniquity of th e son .. . " (Ezeki el 18:2 0). I don 't care wheth er Adam ate an apple or a cant aloup e, I feel not th e light e t re pon sibility for his action s. I have don e enough my self to cause me sufficient remor se without borrowing obligation s from any of my an cestor s. We are alienated from THE CROSS OF CHRIST 39
God by our own wicked work s (Isaiah 59: 1-2; Colossians I :2 1).
B. The cross of Christ reveals God 's love for lost humanit y .
God did not love us because we were worthy of being loved , or because we were loveable and -attractive to Him . Paul said, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly . For scarcely for a righteou man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God Commendeth hi Jove toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5: 6-8). Also , John said, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent. his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (I John 4: 10). Henc e, God loved us when we were sinful and unworthy.
In the beloved Golden Text of the Bible, Je u said, "F or God so loved the world , that he gave hi only begotten Son , that whosoever believeth in him, should not peri sh, but have everla ting life" (John 3: 16). Many of you are father , and you know how extremely difficult it would be for you to give up your on for any cause. You would not uffer his right hand to be cut off for all the wealth of the world. Yet God pared not His only Begotten Son. He gave Him up to die a shameful death , the death of the cro s, to demon trate His love for us all. No wonder Paul exclaimed, "Thank be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (II Corinthians 9: 15).
C. The cross of Christ reveals the truth that God's only remedy for sin is the blood of Christ.
Thousands of lambs and oxen had been offer ed upon 40 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
I rael 's alt ars, but non e could tak e away in. "F or it is not pa s ible th at th e blood of bull and goats should take away sin " (Hebrew I 0:4). John th e Baptist mad e this testimony con cerning Jesu s, "Behold the Lamb of God , which tak eth away th e in of th e world" (John I :29). Th e beloved apostle John said of Jesus, " Unto him that loved us, and washed u from our sin in hi own blood" (Revelation 1 :5).
Und er th e gospel of Chri t we hav e one and only one great meritori o u ground of ju tifi cation - th at ground i th e atonin g blood of Jesu Chri t. This ju tifi cation is appropri ated by man' faith, whi ch leads to bapti m , for Jesus aid , " He that believe th and i baptiz ed hall be aved . . . "( Mark 16: 16). Paul how s that in th e beautiful act of Christian baptism one i "bapt ized into hi [Chri t' J death " (Rom an 6:3). At this point one reac he th e clean ing blood of Chri t , for in His dea th He shed Hi blood .
Paul in i ted that in Christ's death and re urr ect ion He suff ered for in on ce and for all. "For in that he died , he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth , he liveth unto God" (Roman 6: I 0). Thi is rea ffirm ed everal tim es by th e writ er of th e Hebr ew epi tie. " . . . for thi he did once, wh en he off ered up him elf" (Hebrew 7 :27). " So Chri t was once offered to bear the in of many ... " (Heb rew 9 :2 ). " He tak eth away th e first, that he may e tab li h th e second , by th e whi ch will we are anctifi ed through th e off ering of th e body of Jesu Chri t once for all" (Hebrews I 0 :9- 10). Thi plainly repudi ates th e Roman atholi c do ctrin e of repeated acrifice upon th e altar of th e Mas .
D. The cross of Christ reveals the fut ility of all human effo rts to remove sin, or to minimi ze it, or to explain it away. THE CROSS OF CHRIST 41
Variou s remedie for sin have been propo ed by th e philo soph er and refo rm ers. Edu cation , ment al hea lth , psycho -analysi , alvation by morality and soc ial regeneration are method that have been off ered and tri ed in vain . Th e delud ed follow ers of Mr . Baker Eddy olve th e pro blem of sin by pronoun cing it to u a an " illusion of th e mort al mind " - an expl anation that do esn't expl ain.
III. CHRISTIA TTY IS DISTIN CTIV ELY A RELIGION OF ATON EMENT .
Th e elimin ation of th e doc trin e of th e vicariou dea th of Jesus Chri t would take th e very heartb eat out of Christian ity , for truly thjs is th e cent er and cor e and circum ference of th e gospel of salvation. It i import ant that we und er tand th at thi s tremendou s do ctrin e is th e very ba is of our Chri stian faith , for "a part from sheddin g of blood th ere is no rem i sion" (Heb rews 9 :22).
For many years we have been affirmin g thi s grea t t:ruth , not only in our pr eac hing , but in our Chri tian hymn s a well, such a :
"What can wash away my sin? Not hing but the blood of Jesus."
And again :
" I mu t needs go home by the way of't he cross , There's no other way but this."
On th e cro ss Chri st took th e sinn er's place, drank th e sinn er' cup , felt th e sinn er's trip es and wa brui ed for th e sinn er' iniquiti es. It i wh en you preac h Chri t a th e Atone ment for in , th e divin e Sin-bearer, as th e One who wa mad e 42 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
in on our behalf , that you approach th e glory and pow er of the Chri tian religion. Wherever the go pel is pr eac hed with this great doctrine of ex piation and atonement left out th ere th e offen e of th e cro has cease d to mod ern th eo logy. That is th e one doctrine which the world sco rns and whi ch the gates of hell fea r. It wa thi s great do ctrin e of Aton ement th at estab li hed the chur ch in th e pagan world during the early years of Christianity, and · ha kept it secur e through th e sto rm s of th e age . Can th e chur ch now affo rd to for ake its first love and pre ac h to a lost hum anity th e merit s and morality of hum anity in lieu of th e atoning and aving work of Chri t as th e world 's only redemption from in ? We might have great ca th edrals with their tained gla s window s, and eloqu ent pr eac her , and magnifi cent singing , and till fail to co mmuni cate to lost humanity the only cur e for its spiritual malady. On e of the mo st alarming tend encies of the day in o-ca lled Christendom is the tend ency to ton e down th e gospel to uit the pr ejudi ce and unb elief of our age.
Th e qu estion is ometimes a ked , " How can God be ju st and ju tify the sinn er?" The term "ju stify " means the clea r ance of the sin ner from all guilt ; it mea ns that his in is put away and made a though it had never been co mmitt ed . How , then, co uld God be ju st and tru e to Hi holjn e s, and yet so ju tify the sinn er as to receive him back into His fellow ship on the basis of freedom from sin 's guilt ? The only olution to the probl em was for an inno cent part y to voluntarily give his blood , an act which would nece sitate death as a sub titution before God for the death that was due the inn er. Where co uld God find uch a ubstitute? There wa no mortal on ea rth to qualify, "F or all have sinn ed, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). There wa only one po i bility - God's own Son wa th e only Per on who had the capacity to become man 's sinle ss in offering, to bear in His THE CROSS OF CHRIST 4 3 own body th e srn of the world. Th ere wa onl y One who could be a sin-b earer, for He mu st be holy , harml ess, und efiled , separat e from inn ers, guileless and spotl ess- a Lamb without blemish ; o Jesus was ord ained in th e etern al ages a " th e Lamb lain from th e found ation of th e world " (R evelation 13 :8) . Through His atonin g death , in His triumph over sin and Satan , He is truly the Author of etern al life . But if He became our Aton ement for sin , He would have to com e to earth , take upon Him self th e form of a servant , live as a man, be despised and rejected of men, a Man of orrow s. Th en He would have to be smitt en of God , wound ed for our tran sgression s and brui sed for our iniquiti es .
Looking down from th e battl ement s of heaven, He saw th e world doom ed, damn ed and bound for hell. He saw you and me struggling beneath our load of sin and bound in iniquity . Thu s He left His heavenly habit ation , thr ew off His heavenly garm ent s, took upon Him self th e form of hum an fle h and blood that He might die for our sin .
Unit arians and oth er Modernists obj ect to thi s doc trin e of th e Aton ement. Th ey object on th e ground th at it is not reason able to puni h on e person for th e sins of anoth er. Th ey say, "How could God , the first Person , take th e ins of guilty man, the second per on , and lay th em on Chri st, th e innoce nt third Person ?" The truth is that wh en God , th e first Person , took th e sins o f guilty man, the second person , and laid th em on Chri st , He laid th em on Him self. Th ere really was not a third Person in th e tran action , for God , Chri st, and th e Holy Spirit are on e (I John 5 :7). Not on e in entity , but one in purpo se. Hence, Chri st i Deity ; He is God Incarn ate; He is Imm anu el (John I: 1-3, 14). Th erefor e, Paul aff irm ed " that God wa in Chri t, recon ciling th e world unto him self . . . " (II Corinthi an 5 : 19). So unl ess Chri t is Deity , unless He is 44 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN CoLLEGE LECTURES both God and man , both divin e and hum an , th e whol e gospel of the vicariou s suff ering of Chri st i redu ced to fooli hn e . Had Chri st been only a man , only human and no part divin e, He could no mor e have aved oth ers th an could have Steph en, Paul, or Lin coln , or any oth er martyr.
IV . WE DO NOT COME TO TH E REAL STR ENGTH OF TH E GOSP EL OF CHRIST UNTIL WE COME TO TH E HOUR OF THE CROSS .
We now trav el with Jesu on th e hi tori c "way of orrow " - th e way th at led from Geth semane to Calvary , from Geth emane' gat e to th e palace of th e High Priest ; th ence to Pilat e' Judgm ent Hall, and finally to " th e place of the skull ," wh ere the trag edy of th e age was enacted, and wh ere human cruelty reac hed it s high e t.
A. Gethsemane. Leaving th e Upp er Room, following the in titution of th e Lord 's Supp er, Jesus took with Him His eleven apo ties, Jud as having gon e to lay plans for th e betrayal. Ea t of Jeru alem th e ground lop e downward to th e Brook of J(jdron ; on th e oppo ite ide ri es the Mount of Olives. Thi s side of the hill of Olivet facing th e city th ere lie the Garden of Geth emane. Leaving eight of the apo tie out- ide th e Gard en, Jesu took with Him Peter, Jam e , and John into th e Gard en. Leaving th em at a cert ain pot , He withdr ew Him self from th em a ston e's throw, and th ere He pour ed out Hi heart to the Fath er th e e word . " Fath er, if thou be willing , remov e this cup from me ; neverth eles not my will, but thine , be don e" (Luke 22: 42). Returning to Pet er, Jam es and John , Jesus found th em sleeping. He rebuk ed th em in th ee word , ' Watch and pray , th at ye ent er not into tempt ation ; th e spirit indeed is willing , but the flesh is weak" (Matth ew 26 :41 ). Jesus went back to the same place of THE CROSS OF CHRlST 45 pr ay er and pr aye d th ee word , " O my Fath er, if thi s cup may not pas away from me, except 1 drink it , thy will be don e" (Matth ew 26 :42 ). Jesus came aga in to th e apo ties and again He found th em slee pin g. Again He rebuk ed th em in th e same word a befor e. Th e Savior return ed to th e same place of pray er and repea ted th e second pr aye r (Matth ew 26 :44 ). Again He return ed to Peter, Jam e and John , and aga in th ey were sleeping . To th em He said, " Sleep on now , and take your rest ; behold , th e hour is at hand , a·nd th e Son of man is . betrayed int o th e hand of inn ers" (Matth ew 26 :45).
Leavin g th e Gard en , Je u and th e apo stles could look tow ard Jeru salem , and comin g throu gh th e Vall ey o f Kidron , th ere cam e Jud as, on e of th e tw elve, and with him a grea t multitud e with sword s and staves, amon g whom were th e chief pri est and elder of th e peopl e. " It was a full moon and th e black ma was ea ily visibl e, mo ving alon g th e du ty ro ad " (Stalker, Trial and Death of Jesus Christ, page 2). In all prob ability om e of th e dignifi ed memb er of th e Sanh edrin were alon g to make doubl y sur e that non e of th eir plan mi carri ed .
B. Th e A rrest. By pre-arrangement , a ki s, th e ign o f friend ship was to be th e sign by whi ch J esu was to be identifi ed to tho se ee kin g Hi arr e t . Jud a plant ed upon th e blessed cheek of my Lord th e ki s o f betraya l. Jesu said to him , " Jud a , betraye t thou th e Son o f man with a kis ?" (Luk e 22 :48) Peter, bold to defend hi Lord , took hi word and " mot e th e high pri est' ervant , and cut off his right ear. Th e servant ' nam e wa Malchu s" (John 18: I 0 ). Th en Jesus aid to Peter, " Put up again th y sword int o hi place, for all th ey th at take th e word hall perish with th e word " (Matth ew 26: 52) . Th en Je u tend erly tou ched th e ear of Malchu s and heal ed him. 46 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN CoLL EGE L ECTURES
C. The Trials. It should be explain ed here th at Jesus had to und ergo two tri al - th e first, Jewish (or ecc le iastical)· th e second , Rom an (civil) . Th e Jew as a nation wer e a provin ce of th e Roman Empir e, th erefor e subj ec t to Rom e's final authority Rom e insi ted that infli ction of death by cru ci fixion should be her own prerogative. Hence, in thi case th e Sanh edrin could pas the senten ce of capital puni hm ent by cru cifi xion , but that nece sitated anoth er tri al befor e Pontiu s Pilate. The Jewish Trials
I . Befo re A nnas. (John 18: I 3) Ann a , an old man of seventy years, was sKilled in politi cal tri ckery . He had been high pri e t som e tw enty yea rs befor e, but had been depo sed und er Tib eria . He wa till th e virtu al head of th e Jewish th eocracy ; how ever , hi on-in-law , Caiph a , was th e nomin al head.
2 . Befo i-e Caiphas. (John 18 :24) Thi was in th e hou se of Caiph as wh ere the Sanh edrin was a embl ed. Th e charge mad e again st Je us was, "Thi fellow said , I am able to destroy th e templ e of God , and build it in thr ee days" (Matth ew 26:6 1 ). Thi th e Jews con sidered to be blasph emy, for to blasph eme th e Templ e of God wa , acco rding to Jewish law, equiv alent to bla ph emii1g God Him elf. To thi charge Jesu gave no reply , but imply " held hi peace" . .3. Befo re the Sanhed rin, again as embl ed in th e palace of Caiph as.
Caiph as a ked Jesus, " Art thou th e Chri t, th e Son of th e Bies ed? And Je us aid , I am . . . " (Mark 14 :6 1-62) "Th en THE CROSS OF CHRIST 47 the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, "What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy; what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palm of their hands" (Mark 14:63-65). The Roman Trials I. The initial hearing before Pilate. (Matthew 27 :2, ll-14 ;Mark 15:2-5;Luke23 - l-5 ;John 18:28-38) The first charge the Jews made against Jesus before Pilate was that He was a malefactor (John 18:31-32). They then trumped up the charge that Jesus forbade the payment of taxe to Rome, and that He had proclaimed Himself a king . Pilate was shrewd enough not to be deceived by this so phi try, and he knew that the Jews would never have asked the death sentence for such offences as these, so he took Jesus into the Judgment Hall and questioned Him privately (John 18 :33-37). Thi private interrogation was enough to convince the governor that the e charges against Jesu were fal e. He came out before the accusers of Jesus and said , "I find no fault in this man" (Luke 23:4). When the Jews mentioned that Jesus was a Galilean , this moved Pilat e to realize that Je u really belonged under Herod's juri sdiction, and he told them to take Jesus before Herod, who was in Jeru alem at that time (Luke 23:6-7).
2. Jesus before Herod. (Luke 23:8-1 1) "When Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad, for he wa desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many thing of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him" (Luke 23 :8). Herod then asked Jesus 48 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE L ECTUR ES qu e tion s, but Je us " answered him nothing " (Luk e 23 :9). Herod then sent Je us back to Pilate again.
3. Jesus bef ore Pilate again.
Pilate announ ced to th e Jews th at neith er he nor Herod had found in Jesu any fault worthy of death . Th en Pilate said , " I will th erefor e cha ti e him , and release him " (Luk e 23 : 16) . Th en Pilate rememb ered th at at th e Pa over fea tit was a custom for th e govern or to relea e a pri son er. He th en brought Jesus and Barabb as, a not able pri on er , before the Jew and a ked , " Wheth er of th e twain will ye th at I relea e unto you ? Th ey aid , Barab bas. Pilate said unto th em, What shall I do with Jesus whi ch is called Chri st? Th ey all say unto him , Let him be cru cified" (Matth ew 27 :2 1-22).
When Pilate ough t to relea e Jesus, th e Jews cried out , say ing, " If thou let thi s man go, th ou art not Cae ar's friend . .. " (John 19: 12 ). When the Jews persi ted th at J esu be cru cified, Pilate aid , " Shall I cru cify your King? Th e chief pri e t answered We have no king but Caesar" (John 19: 15).
D. Th e Scourging.
Pilate turn ed th e Prison er over to the exec ution er for the scourging whi ch alway pr ecee ded a cru cifixion . It wa pr obab ly his thought th at flagellation would sati fy th e mob blood- thir sty for vengeance. Aft er th e scourgin g the oldier took th e Victim int o th e palace qu art er and called togeth er th e entire comp any to make por t of Je u . Th ey took from Him His own clothin g and put upon Him the scarlet robe ~ th ey placed upon Hi brow a crown of thorn s and in His hand th ey placed a reed. Th ey mo cked Him , crying in corn "Hail, thou King of th e Jew ." THE CROSS OF CHRIST 49
E. The Via Dolorosa - "the way of sorrow." The Death March then began. Every tep wa a struggle for Jesus. He bore the burden of the cross; it was an upright beam , perhap twelve or fourteen feet long; the cross beam wa , likely, six or eight feet long. No wonder He truggled beneath the weight of this heavy cross. Yet "the cros . he carried was not heavy because of the wood , but because of the world" (William F. McDowell , Good Ministers of Jesus Christ, page 79). But Jesus was enfeebled not only by this crue lty , but by the previous days of violent treatment, by the night of leepless anxiety and suffering , and the mental anguish of the Garden and also of the ix trials. The Rom an oldier , eager to get their assignment over , met a man coming from the country, "Simon , the Cyrenian , whom .they compelled to bear the cro after Jesus." They came to Golgatha - "the place of the kut1." There they cru cified Jesus between two thieve .
Upon the cro s Je u spoke those seven beautiful word : 1. Looking upon those who had so ill-treated Him, Je u looked to the Father and said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23: 34 ).
2. To the thief who had said to Je us, "Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom," to him Je us said, "Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23 :43). 3. To Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Lord said, "Woman, behold thy son" (John 19:26) , alluding to John. Then to John, Jesus said, "Behold thy mother." Here Jesus poke as the Son of man , remembering in Hi dying hour , His obligation to His human mother. He dared not to peak her name now, nor reveal Hi relationship , le t the hostile crowd 50 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES insult her , but with His simple statement He commended her to John that he should care for her. 4. In indescribable anguish, Jesus said to the Father, ''My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" (Matthew 27:46). Had God really forsaken Him? Yes, but not because God was displeased in any sense with His Son. But Jesus was dying for sin. He was a sin-offering. Paul declared that God "hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (II Corinthians 5 :2 l ). The sin offering under the law was loath some; it had to be burned outside the camp. In the Hebrew letter we read, "For the bodies of those beasts , whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood , suffered without the gate" (Hebrews 13:11 -12) . So Jesus tasted the horror of Hades that we might escape it forever. Speaking prophetically at this point , David said, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades , neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (Psalms 16: 10). No wonder there was dark ness over the face of the earth for three hours. Was not this a veil reverently let down from heaven?
5. Jesus then said, "/ thirst " (John 19 :28). They then gave Him vinegar, mingled with gall. According to cu tom the victim was offered a strong aromatic wine , from a feeling of pity to the condemned, in order to stupefy him . Some believe that this was a ort of an anae ·thetic to relieve Him of pain. He merely tasted it, but refused to drink it , for He wanted to drink the bitterest dregs of suffering.
6. Then Jesus said, "It is finish,ed" (John 19:30). Nothing more could be done. Prophecy had pointed to that THE CROSS OF CHRIST 51 day ; henc e fulfilled or finished. The price for sin had been paid . The law of Moses had ended; it was nail erl to the cross (Co lossians 2: I 4).
7. Fina lly, Jesu s said to the Father, "Father, into thy hands I commen d my spirit" (Luke 23 :46). In the Interces sory Prayer Jesus said , "And now , 0 Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (John 17: 5). The Father would receive Him back, that He had finished His work on earth into that intimacy of communion and fellowship which had been theirs from all eternity. Hi work of redemption was ended -: the Father then received Him at His ascension back into heaven.
When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prin ce of glory died; My richest gain I count but loss And pour contempt on all my pride. ; Forbid it , Lord , that I should boast , Save in the death of Christ , my Lord; All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.
See, from His head, His hands , His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down ; Did e'er uch love and sorrow meet , Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine , That were a present far too small; Love so amazing , so divine , Demands my soul, my life, my all.
Isaac Watts LIFT UP YOUR EYES J. C. Bailey
John Carlos Bailey was born September 13, 1903. He was born on a farm near Meaford, Ontario. He obeyed the go pel in July , 1914. He was baptized by his father, the late T. W. Bailey. He attended the old Carman Bible College in the years 1921-23. From there he went to Montana to preach. He was in Montana until the spring of 1925 .
On January 3, 1924, he married Myrtle Deane Buckallew of Elmdale, Montana. To this union seven children were born . The Baileys later adopted three little half-Chinese girls. One son passed to the spirit world on March 6, 1974. There are also 21 grandchildren and one great grandson. He returned to Canada in May, 1925, and since then has labored in every province in Canada, but has worked extensively in Ontario and the Western provinces.
He was editor of the Gospel Herald for a number of years and also worked with Western Christian College for a number of years when the school was at Radville , Sas katchewan.
It was discovered in 1962 that there were special privi leges extended to Canadians in going to India as missionaries . He accepted the challenge and on April 25, 1963 , he land ed on Indian soil. Others have followed . Ways have been found for American to spend time in India , and so there are now more members of the chur ch in India than any other place in the world except the l J.S.A . 52 LI FT UP YOUR EYES 53
He has made six trips to India. The first two trips were more than three years each in duration.
Introdu ction When Jesu said that we were to lift up our eyes and look at fields that were white already unto harvest (John 4: 35) , he was referring to a harvest of souls and not a harvest of grain.
Before we enter into a di cussion of the subject proper, it might be well for us to ee the setting . God had given the Old Testament to the Jew (Exodus 34:27 , 28 ; Deuteronomy 5 :3). Je u was born under the law and lived under the law (Galatian 4:4). The men that He cho e to make His will known to the world were all Jews and had been raised to believe that the Jews were the covenanted people of God. Thi was true , but this condition ended at the Cross (II Corinthians 3: 14; Colo ians 2: 14) .
The Field is th e World Constantly during the per onal mini try of Christ He laid the foundation for the worldwide ystem that He proposed to e tabli h. Time only permits u to call attention to a few of the e. In the parable of the tare , as recorded in Matthew 13:24-30 , 36-43 , Jesus said that the field is the world (verse 38). However, in the lesson that we are using as a text Je us said that the e men, and hence u , were to lift up our eyes unto fields. Jesus made it very plain in the Great Commission that the whole world was the field: "Go ye therefore , and 54 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE L ECTURES make disciples of the nations" (Matthew 28: 19). "And he said unto them , Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15) . Luke records another conversation of Je us, after Hi re urre ction , and thjs is what wa aid: "and that repentance and remission of ins shou ld be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jeru alem" (Luke 24:47). Withjn this field (the world) there are field , (nation ) and within these fields there are fields (different ethnic groups , and people talking different language s). Indi a is a field within the field and then there are many fields witrun the country of Indi a. There are 14 major languages and each language ha its own script. Then there are hundreds of different dialect .
In connectio n with this matter of reaping the world for Christ , Jesus made a very significant statement in John 6:63; He said, "the flesh profiteth nothjng." Under the law the flesh did profit. Under the caste system of Hinduism the flesh does profit. lt doe make a differ ence whether you are born a Brahmin or a Harijan (this is the name that Ghandi gave the Untouchables).
Wrule the apo stles had the Great Cammi sion they were slow to realize its significance. It took three miracl e to convince Peter that he should go down and preach to the Gentile s (Acts 10 :9-23) . Even when he got there he a ked them why they had ent for rum (Acts I 0:29) . After Cornelius had told Peter of the visit of the angel, Peter was then ready to do what Je us had commanded him to do in the Great Commission and he made this very significant state ment ;" .. . Of a truth I perceive that God i no respector of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him , and worketh righteousness, is acceptab le to him (Act I 0:34 , 35). "I think we shou ld add here two tatement s made by in pira- LIFT UP YOUR EYES 55
tion through the Apostle Paul : "For in Chri t Je u neither circumcisio n availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love" (Galati ans 5: 6). "Wherefore we hence forth know no man after the flesh ; even though we have known Chri t after the flesh , yet now we know him so no more" (II Corinthians 5: 16).
I think we have e tabli hed the fact that the gospel i for all. We cannot say that any one nation of people has more right to the gospel than others.
Now let us turn back to our text again. Jesus said "LIFT UP YOUR EYES." He wa not talking about a property that we might buy. He was not talking abo ut educatio nal oppor tunities . We are to lift up our eyes unto field . I was raised on a farm . 1 love good land. I love to travel down the Red River Valley from Winnipeg , Manitoba , to Fargo , North Dakota. There are no stones . There i no poor land . It is rich ferti le oil. The best time to travel on this road is about the middle of August. There are severa l million acres that are ripe unto harvest. Jesus said that we are to lift up our eyes unto field that are white unto harvest.
Every farmer know that when the grain is ready , harve t must take place THEN. Let us suppose that we have a field of wheat that i ready to harvest but we leave it for four months. very farmer knows that thi can be near di aster. If a farmer does not harvest the fields, that are white unto harve t he will soon be off the farm.
Many Fields Rip e Unto Harvest Now
We may not understand why , but at certain times certain fields (nation ) are white unto harvest. There are nations 56 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTUR ES where men are owing th e seed. It may be a generation befor e there is any great harvest. Th e Parabl e of th e Sow er demon strate s this (Luke 8 :4-15).
Why are th ere field s that are whit e unto harv e t? Jesus ay : "I have sent you to reap th at wh ereunto ye have not labored ; oth ers have labored and y e have ent ered into th eir labor " (John 4 :38).
If we think of the Indian as a barbari an we have a wron g con ception. When William Carey went to Indi a th e Indi an people were not looking for Chri stianity. William Carey was an Engli sh Bapti st who went to Indi a about th e fir t part of the la t century. It took him seven year to make on e convert. Young widow s were burn ed with th eir dead hu sband s. It wa not un common for th e fir tborn , if he were a girl, to be de troy ed to app ease th e god s, for th e parent s had offended the god or the firstborn would not have been a girl. India wa th en certainly anything but a field whit e unto harvest. Even as late as the middl e of th e century wh en th e Ameri can Bapti sts sent a mission ary into And ra Prade h (th at is wh ere I have don e mo st of my work) it took him five years to make a single conv ert. How ever, William Carey tran slated the Bible into many of th e languag e of Indi a. Hundr eds of thou sand of copi es of th e Bible, in whol e or in part , have been distribut ed among th e peopl e of Indi a. For two hundr ed years denomin ational mi sion arie have told th e story of Je sus. True , th ey did not pr eac h all th e truth , but th e Indi an did learn what was in th e Bible and did learn o f Christ. It is a field whit e unto harvest, and it is tru e, sadly tru e, beca u e other s have labor ed , we have been able to ent er into th eir labor s. UFT UP YOUR EYES 57
To Evangelize the World Is a Command I would like to empha ize the fact that Jesus give a command here, a command that we hould obey. (Should we not obey any command that he ha given us?) In a past generation there was a segment in the church that taught that we are not under the Great Commission. In practice that egment may still be very much alive, but I do not think that anyone would argue that the Great Commi sion does not apply to us .)
We do not believe that we have the right to change the elements that are on the Lord's table. We use bread anc;I the fruit of the vine. We do not believe that we have the right to change the action of bapti m. We are firmly convinced that those who prinkle babies instead of immer ing adults have violated the law of God.
This being true , and it is true, then how can we change the Great Commission? We are to carry the gospel into all the world. We are to lift up our eyes unto fields that are white unto harvest. There are MILLIONS that would obey the go pel in various parts of the world IF THEY HAD THE OPPORTUNITY . Yet , I am told that there are elders who say that they will not work in a field that is more than 500 miles away from where they live. Are they obeying the voice of Christ? I think you know they are not. WHO GA VE THEM THE RIGHT TO MAKE AN EXCEPTION?
Let u look at this carefully again. The field is the world. That is the verdict of the Lord Him elf. Je u aid , LIFT UP YOUR EYES. Where? UNTO FIELDS. WHAT FIELDS? The fields that are white unto harve t. Do not say, says Jesus, that there are four months unto harvest. This may be true in many part of the world , then and now, but there are 5 8 ABILENE CHRISTIAN CoLLEGE LECTURES
FIELDS THAT ARE WHITE UNTO HARVEST. We should be ashamed that others have labored and we now enter into harvest, but this doe not alter the urgency of the command. There is no denying the fact that there are fields that are ALREADY white unto harve t.
When I was a boy excursion train ran from Eastern Canada to Western Canada to help reap the harvest of grain. Thousands of men were brought out each year. (That was before the combine became a widely used machine.) They came out to harvest the great crops of the Western Plain , to receive wages. Harvest wage were good compared to other farm wage at that time. So we have been promi ed by the Lord of harvest , that we hall receive wages. We shall gather fruit unto life eternal (John 4:36). We could not get better wages than that. There is pecial con ideration for those who win many souls for Chri t. Prophetically Daniel spoke of thi very thing: "And they that are wi e shall hine as the bright ne s of the firmament; and they that turn MANY [Emphasis mine - JCB] to righteousness as the star forever and ever" (Daniel 12:3).
The saved will not consist of ju t Anglo-Saxon people for I read this: "After these things I aw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, tanding before the throne and before the Lamb ... " (Revelation 7:9). It does not look as if the plan of God can be carried out and churches stay within five hundred miles of home base.
God's Providence We profess that we are triving to restore New Testament Christianity. Yet, we have fallen far short of re toring the LIFT UP YOUR EYES 59 pattern of evangelism of the New Testament Church. God overruled in the book of Acts to see that the message was carried worldwide. The gospel was preached to the orthodox Jew. It was preached to the Grecian Jew. It was preached to the Samaritan . Then God overruled, as we have already noted , to see that the gospel was preached to the God fearing Gentile. Jesus may have been directly referring to these people when he said: " ... others have labored and ye have entered into their labor" (John 4:38). After the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity they had translated the Bible into the Greek language. Because of this , there were thousands of people in the world, like Cornelius , who while not worshipping according to the rites of Judaism, did worship the true God and had given up idolatry. So this was a field ripe for the early Christians to harvest. You can se~ what happened in Antioch: "But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene , who when they were come to Antioch spake unto the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number turned unto the Lord" (Acts 1 I :20, 21 ).
Lift up your eyes and look at the church now . Instead of a group of Jews it consisted of Jews , Orthodox, and Grecian; it consisted of Samaritans and Bible believing Gentiles. We would have said surely this is enough. Surely , this would do for one generation . Let us lift up our eyes and LOOK.
A great meeting had been held in Antioch. This meeting had continued for one whole year. There had been a great harvest of souls. We would say that surely now they should stop and consolidate their work. There were men left there to consolidate the work, but listen to the word of the Lord: " . .. the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" (Acts 13 :2). Let us 60 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES lift up our eyes and ee what thi i now. What i the new work that wa to be done. The gospe l is now to be carried into the heathe n world. Fir t to the island of Cypru they went with the go pel and then into Asia Minor into what is now Turkey. They had great crowds in ome of these meetings , for in one meeting nearly the whole city came to hear the go pel preached (Acts I 3 :44). In every city a torm of persecution beat upon the preachers of the gospe l, but they carried on. After this preaching trip was ended they returned to Antioch and mad e a report to the church (Acts I 4:27). A econd trip was planned and they visited the churche that had been start ed on the first trip. They were taught to be faithful to the Lord. The great apo tie Paul is not atisfied with the ground he has covered. He now want to turn outh into A ia (Ephe us) but the Holy Spirit forbid it for the time. Paul later spent more time in Eph esu than any other one place except in jail (Acts I 6: 6). Paul then thought to turn north into Bythinia "and the Spirit of Je us suffered him not" (Acts 16:7). Paul did not conc lud e that because he could not go outh and he cou ld not go north, that he hould return or stay where he wa . There was one other direction to go. He went west. Soon Paul and his company found themselve in Troa (Act I 6:8). Paul here had a vision. In this vision he aw a man of Macedonia saying "Come over into Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9). The gospel had been preached in A ia. The go pel had been carried to Africa by the eunuch who wa baptized by Philip (Acts 8 :26:40). Now the gospel i to be carried to Europe. I believe that it is as e sentia l to restore the New Testament pattern of world evangelism as any other part of the divine plan. If not, why not? The e men did not go out and tart schoo ls. They did not start ho pita) . They preached the gospel. They preached the gospel by lookin g a man in the eye and preaching Christ to him. LIFT UP YOUR EYES 61
Charity we must do, for Je us o taught (Matthew 25 :3 1-46) , but this will not ave the ouls of men. Only a preached gospel will ave men (Roman s 1 : 16). I must practice charity to ave my soul. I must preach the go pel to save the soul of my fellow man.
New Testament Churches Were Evangelistic New Te tament churches reached far with the gospel. I read of the church at Rome: " ... your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world" (Rom ans I :8). Their faith could only be proclaimed throughout the whole world" (Romans I :8). Their faith cou ld only be proclaimed by what they SAID. Paul talks to them further about this, lat er in this book. Let us lift up our eye and look at thi statement from the Book of Romans: "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee , in thy mouth and in thy heart: that i the word of faith which we preach ; because if thou sha lt confe with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead , thou halt be aved : for with the heart man believeth unto righteou ness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the cripture saith , Who oever believeth on him shall not be put to shame. For there is no di tinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him: for, whosoever hall call on the name of the Lord hall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how hall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how sha ll they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be ent?" (Romans I 0:8-15).
If anything can be proved, then world evangelism is a part and parcel of New Testament Christianity. 62 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE L ECTURES
Our Own History Lift up your eyes! Let us look back at the history of the church in the last 150 years. The movement to restore New Testament Christianity was not a generation old when it was split over a plan to do Missionary Work. Brethren thought that if the churches would cooperate through this organi zation that was called a Missionary Society , then they could evangelize the world more rapidly. This was a tragi c mistake. Those brethren who did not take part in this organization did more work at home than those who had the Society. I refer to the matter of starting work in new place . This is very apparent by these figures. The Christian Chu rch at the turn of the century had about one million members. They now have about two million members . After the division there were probably not more than 300 ,000 members of the churches that rejected the societies . Figures show that there are now more than 2,000,000 members of the churche that rejected the Society. The work overseas was not so proli fie.
It is not that the Society brethren accomplished much overseas , but we did less. In the debate between J. B. Briney of the Christian Church and W.W. Otey of the churches of Christ, Briney said that we not only did not believe in the Society but we did not believe in Missionary work . We cou ld have plead ed guilty and saved the cost of the court.
In my early, life Daniel Sommer taught that it was not needful to do overseas work. He claimed that the "ye" in the Great Commission applied only to the apostles and o the churches that held to his view did not do any work overseas. Hundreds of churches, especially in the Northern States , were under the control of this man. This is not the only error that he taught , but this is the part that has to do with the subject under discussion. LIFT UP YOUR EYES 63
As th e influ ence of the Somm er faction began to fade, th ere aro se a new enemy on th e horizon. Th e greatest advo cate of foreign evangeli m in th e l 92 0' s and 193 0' was a man by the name of Don Carlo s Jane . When th e contro ver y aro e over premilleniali m , Jan es was very active on th e side of thi theory . Thi gave brethr en a good alibi not to upport for eign evangelism for it was controll ed by premill eniali sts. Not all work was controll ed by the se brethr en, but enough of it was to give brethr en an alibi not to support th e work.
Th en came World War II . Am erican soldi ers who were Chri tian s went into nearly every country on earth . They were impre ed with th e need of taking the go pel to the people of th e world. Plan were begott en in the War Year to carry th e go pel to cert ain nation s. Notabl e amon g th ese were Germany , Italy, and Jap an. Aft er the war th ere wa a greater effort mad e than ever before in mod ern history.
Th e chur ch had lift ed up her eyes and even if only in a limit ed way , he aw a lo t and ruin ed world.
Would we mar ch on to victory ? Not if th e devil had his way. As he had hinder ed u with a society and th en he had hindered us with the theory of pre-mill enialism, now th ere aro se a new cry. Many of tho se that were bapti zed backslid . Had not many of tho se who had been baptiz ed in America backslid? Do not Canadian s backslide ? Some work er prov ed unfitted for th e task. Some got hom esick and discou raged and came home. So som e chur che refused to support over seas work . Cert ain men aid that th ey had got " brown ed off ." Is it not peculiar that th ey never got "brown ed off " when it cam e to dealing with Anglo-Saxon s? 64 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
A Wonde rf ul Eve nt Then a wonderful thin g happ ened . A nativ e poli ceman in Nigeria learned th e way of the Lord through a Bible Corre- pond ence Cour e and reading his New Te tament. In a few month he had baptiz ed mor e th an 5000 people. As we lifted up our eye and looked over th e world we found that th ere were many nation s wh ere hundr ed of thou and s would ob ey th e go pel.
On e pr ea<;her had aid in 1947 that we would not bapti ze 5000 peopl e over eas in a genera tion. I think we call 33 y ear a generation o our generation is not compl eted yet , but th ere hav e been betw een 350 ,000 and 500 ,000 people bapti zed out side th e U.S.A. Yes, om e got home ick and ca m e hom e. Som e were inefficient , om e elders got " brown ed off ' and re fused to upport th e work , but think of th e harve t.
What of th e Futur e Only by th e eye of faith can we lift up our eye to th e futur e. Peopl e '"Yere never o willing to ob ey th e go pel as th ey are OW. Th ere i no on e to take th e go pel to th em but US. We can make all th e excu es we like but th e dying million of th e earth can not hear without a preac her and they can no t preac h unl e s th ey are ent.
Have faith in th e Go pel. Befor e World War I th e Engli h chur ches had som e work in ya aland. Thi s country is now called Malawi . Thi co untry i near Zambi a. When th e war brok e out (World War I) th ese memb ers of th e chur ch th at were th ere fo r om e rea on were arr e ted by th e authoriti e . I do not know if th ey were co nscientiou obj ector or not. Anyway , th ey lef t th e co untry und er a shadow. The seed had LIFT UP YOUR EYES 65
not been sown in vain. 1 am told th at tod ay th ere are mor e m emb er of th e chur ch in Malawi than in any nation on earth per capit a.
During World War 1 but befor e the U.S.A . ent ered th e war , thr ee men were en t to Indi a to pr eac h th e go pel. Two of th e e men embra ced th e faith of th e Seventh Day Adventi sts and work ed for th em for year . On e of the e men was still living a few year ago and was visited by Broth er Carl John on . Thi s man is retir ed and lives in th e U.S.A. Recently Broth er Chas. F. Scott , of Oln ey, Maryland , was in Indi a and he found chur che that did not follow th ese men into Adventi sm and have continu ed to war hip God through th e year . There i a flouri shing work again in th at area wh ere thes e men labor ed and many of the e chur che that did follow McHenry into Adventi sm are now being revived , or restor ed. The following report in part is taken from th e Go pel Advo cate of July 18, 1974: "Th e We tern Indi a work began in 1970 (that is the pr esent eff ort ). Tod ay we have 78 congrega tion , 23 lo cal preac hers, and 42 self-supportin g congr egation s. Tot al numb er of Christians 42,687 convert ed in four years tim e." I am sure that th ere are other part of India wh ere th e tory of Andhra Prade h and We tern Indi a can be repeat ed . To tho e who say th at Afri ca can well becom e the centr e of Christianity by th e year 2000 , I say take a good look at Indi a.
What do We See ? When two peopl e lift up their eye th ey often see two different thing . In a work growing a fast as th e work in India ther e are pla ces that are neglecte d af ter th ey have been baptiz ed. No matt er how hard a person may try to avoid it the se thing s happ en. I know that som e peo ple would never gc 66 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
to a new place unles they were SU RE they could be looked after afterwards. Is that the way PAUL did it? I recently read a report about some churches that were found without any help and it was played up as a terrible tragedy. Let us take another look. We went to a village near the Godavery River. There were some 40 people baptized. These people were neglected. No one was there to minister unto them. Some months later we baptized a man that was a government employee. He began to carry the gospel into the villages around him. He came to this village. He told these people about the one church. He told them of the one faith and the one baptism. They told him that they were members of the church, they told him that they had been baptized for the remi sion of sins but no one had told them what they were to do next. Despite the fact that they had been neglected for 18 month s, each one of them was still a member of the church. They meet and worship now in that village.
There was a story told in this province during the thirties. The southern part of this province was dry and the northern part had plenty of rain. Many farmers moved out of the dust bowl into the northern part of the province. One day two of these men crossed the ferry across the Saskatch ewan River on their way into the northern part of the province. One man crossed in the morning and he asked the man that ran the ferry if he knew a certain district. The ferryman replied that he knew that district. The man asked him what kind of people lived in that district. He asked the farmer that was moving , what kind of people he had left. He told the ferryman that they were wonderful people and if it had not been for the hope of saving his cattle he would not have moved . The ferryman told him that he would find the same kind of people in the di trict where he was going. In the afternoon another man crossed on the ferry. It so happened LIFT UP YOUR EYES 67 that he was going to the same district. He asked the ferryman the same question that the first man had asked. The ferryman then asked him what kind of people he had left. He said that they were terrible people. He thought that the drought wa a Godsend to get him out of that area. The ferryman told him that he would find the people like that in the area where he was going. (He had said he was going to the same area to which the first man wa going.) When the second man had pulled off the ferry the helper on the ferry turned to the man in charge and asked him why he had told the man in the morning what fine people live in that area and then told the man in the afternoon a different tory. The ferryman said that they will find the people in that area just like the one they left. If you are looking for something to criticize then you shall surely find it. This is true no matter what country you are in.
Paul said: " ... whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue , and if there be any praise think on these things" (Philippians 4:8). Let me give you one glimpse into India. Two of the native workers had been going to three native villages for some time. They wanted me to go with them when they thought these people had been well enough taught to be baptized. They had sent word that I could come as soon as I was ready. I sent word that I could come on a certain day. The arrangement was that this brother would go on the motorcycle and tell the viJlagers that we would be there the next day to have meetings. These people all did field work , but it was agreed by their Hindu bosses that the first group could leave the fields at IO a.m. The econd group would not come to work after dinner until after the meeting in their village and the third group would come from the field at 4 p.m. It so happened that when I sent word that I was coming , the brother' s motorcycle was broken down . It 68 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES was the month of May. That is the hotte t time in Indi a, at lea t in that area. Under the circum tances I know what I would have done. I would have waited until the Jeep came the next morning and I would have said that the motorcycle was broken down and so we would have to arrange the meetings after we arrived in the village. This would have meant that we would only have had two meeting , as we would have had to wait until the people came from the field after we got there. Thi s man rode a bicycle for 50 miles and the villages were ready when we came. From certain people we never hear stories like that. THEY NEVER SEE THINGS LIKE THAT. (It wa 106 in the had e that day th e man rode the bicycl e.)
If I were to go hunting I would not see anything to shoot. I do not want to shoot anything. So we lift up our eyes and too oft en we see the wrong thing. There is a cert ain man who a few year ago did translating for two young men who were in India . Certainly translating is a lot harder job than preaching. They were in their 20's. He was nearing 50 and a diabeti c. Yet , he was recently dismi sect. With such an attitude it would be better if such men never saw a foreign country.
Let us LIFT UP OUR EYES. There are million s that will obey the gospel in the world if only we have the wisdom to carry th e message to them. They will be weak, fra·il human being s that will need the grace of God as long a they live even as we . However , by that grace there can be that great host that no man can number to sing the ongs of Mo es and the Lamb as the ages of eternity roll on. CHRIST IS THE ANSWER C. E. McGaugh ey
C. E. McGaughey was graduated from Abilene Christian College in 1928. There he met and married Pauline McCanJies. They have two ons, Paul of Abilene, Texas, and Don of Redondo Beach, California.
He has done local work in Elk City and Oklahoma City in Oklahoma, Springfield, Mo., Washington, D.C., and Houston. He now lives near the campus of Oklahoma Christian College and gives his full time to gospel meetings, having conducted over five hundred the last thirteen years. His labors have taken him to nearly all the states of the Union, Canada and Great Britain.
He has appeared on the lectureships of most of our colleges and has delivered lectures on preaching in several of them. Biblical Research Press has published a book of his sermons, Christ the Hope of the World.
While conducting a meeting at Reading , Penn- ylvania , I aw a beauti fully illumin ate d neo n ign with th ese word , "C hri t is the Answ er ." I was deeply impre s ed with the ign and its wording. It expressed a great truth thi generation need to recog nize .
The world ha many probl em and seeking
69 ?O ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
everywh ere for a so lution. Unfortun ately , it is painfull y ob viou s th e world is not aware of the answer. It is regrett able th at many in th e chur ch also fail to und erstand th e e lution . To tho e who have bee n redeemed by His blood and have been born into th e family of God , th e answer should be known and ex perienced in their Christian lives. The fact that thi is not tru e is a severe indi ctm ent against u . It causes u to look elsewhere for th e solution to our probl ems and to ex perience many di appointm ent s and heart aches. Our own person al observation should cause us to see how tru e the word s of our Lord are, " for apart from me ye can do nothing " (John 15 :5). Likewise, th e truthfuln ess o f Paul' word s hould be ex perienced by every follow er of Chri st , " I can do all thing s in him that strength eneth me" (Phillippi ans 4 : 13).
Christ is the answer to the proph ecies of the Old Testa ment concerning the Messiah. To the sincere stud ent of th e proph et and their prediction s of th e One to come , it is clear Jesus Chri t fulfill ed th em one by on e. In a university city , a young Jewish girl vi ited th e services of a gospel meeting with some of her friend s who were memb ers of th e chur ch. She told me she did not believe in Je us. I explain ed to her th at He was very preciou to us and asked her if she would read th e book of Matth ew . She graciou ly agreed to my requ est. She start ed reading and began to see how Jesus fulfill ed th e proph ecies of th e Old Testament. Her int erest in Chri t began to grow and daily it beca me mor e appar ent to her th at a mere man could not have fulfill ed all tho se proph ecies. Like Saul of Tar u , she began to see th at th e on e he had reje cted was really the Mes iah for whom th e Jewish peopl e had been waiting for centuri e . She was led to believe in Him and ex pressed her faith in Him by ob edience to His gospel. CHRIST IS THE ANSWER 71
This Jewish girl, who found faith in Christ , is an exa mpl e of th e way oth er , both Jew and Gentil e, can find a like faith by studyin g th e evidence given in th e inspir ed proph ecies con cernin g th e comin g of Christ and th e mann er in whi ch th ey were fulfill ed in th e New Testa ment. Let us observe som e of th e proph ecies th at point ed to th e comin g of Christ.
When God called Abram out of Ur of Chaldees, one of th e first clear and distin ctive proph ecies of the comin g of Chri st wa given. It read , " Get th ee out o f th y country , and from th y kindr ed , and from thy father's house, unto th e land th at I will show th ee: and I will make of th ee a great nation , and I will bles th ee, and make thy name great ; and be th ou a ble sing: and I will bles th em th at ble s th ee , and him th at cur eth th ee will I curse: and in th ee shall all of th e families of th e earth be blessed" (Gene is 12: 1-3). In th e New Te ta ment Paul poin ts out th at this proph ecy was fulfill ed in Chri st, saying, " Now to Abra ham were th e promi es spok en , and to his seed. He saith not , And to seed , as of many ; but as of on e, And to th y seed, whi ch is Christ" (Ga lat ians 3: 16) .
Later, Jacob predicted th at the Messiah would com e o f th e trib e of Jud ah , " Th e sceptr e shall not depart from Jud ah , nor th e rul er's staff from between hi feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall th e ob edience of th e peopl e be" (Genesi 49: I 0). Two hundr ed years later Balaam proph esied that the Lord would com e of th e seed of Jacob , " I see him , but not now ; I behold him , but not high: th ere shall com e forth a star out of Jacob , and a sceptr e hall ri e out of I rael, and shall smit e through th e corn ers of Moab, and break down all th e son s of tumult " (Numb er 24 : 17). When on e look at the genealogy of Jesus he finds He did com e through both Jacob and Jud ah, " ... th e son of Jud ah , th e on of Jaco b, th e son of Isaac, th e son of Abraham ... " (Luk e 3 :33, 34). 72 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
A mo t inter esting proph ecy of Chri st' coming is given in Deut eronomy 18: 18 & 19, "I will raise them up a proph et from among th eir brethr en, like unto th ee; and I will put my word s in his mouth , and he shall speak unto th em all that I shall command him . And it shall com e to pass, th at who soever will not hearken unto my word s whi ch he shall speak in my name, I will requir e it of him ." In the New Testament , Peter quot es thi s proph ecy and appli ed it to Chri st (Acts 3:22 -23 ).
A proph ecy familiar to all stud ent s of th e Scriptur es is th at of Isaiah 7: 14, " Th erefor e th e Lord him self will give you a sign : behold a virgin shall con ceive, and bear a son , and shall call his nam e Imm anuel." It is in Matth ew I :2 1-23 that thi s was fulfill ed in the birth of Jesus, " And she shall bring forth a son ; and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for it is he th at shall save his people from th eir sins. Now all thi s is come to pass, that it might be fulfill ed which was spoken by th e Lord through th e prophet , saying , " Behold , th e virgin shall be with child , and shall bring forth a son , And th ey shall call his nam e Immanu el; whi ch is int erpr eted , God with us."
The One to come was pictur ed as th e Man of Sorrow s in th e Old Testam ent. It was written , " He was despised , and rej ected of men ; a man of sorrow s, and acqu ainted with grief: and as one from whom men hid e th eir face he was despised ; and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrow s; yet we did esteem him stri cken, smitt en of God , and afflicted. But he wa wound ed for our tran sgression s, he was brui sed for our iniquiti es; th e chastise ment of our peace was upon him ; and with his strip es we are healed ; All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turn ed every on e to his own way ; and Jehov ah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 5 3: 3-6). When on e read s the CHRIST IS THE ANSWER 73 a1,;count of th e life of our Lord a given in th e gospel he can see th at truly Jesus was th e Man of Sorrow s.
Even th e birthpla ce of Chri t wa describ ed centuri e before He wa born . " But thou , Bethl ehem Ephrath ah , whi ch art little to be among th e thou sand of Judah , out of th ee shall on e come forth unto me that is to be rul er in I rae l; who se going s forth are from of old , from everla ting " (Micah 5 :2). The fulfillm ent of thi s is beautifully pictur ed in th ese word s: " And th ere were sheph erd in th e same country abiding in th e field, and kee pin g watch by night over th eir flo ck. And an angel of th e Lord stoo d by th em , and th e glory of the Lord shon e round about th em : and th ey were ore afraid . And th e Angel said unto th em , Be not afraid ; for behold , I bring you good tiding of grea t joy whi ch hall be to all the peopl e : for th ere i born to you thi s day in th e city of David a Saviour , who is Chri st th e Lord . And thi s i th e ign unto you: Ye hall find th e babe wrapp ed in waddlin g cloth es, and lying in a mang er. And sudd enly th ere wa with the angel a multitude of the heavenly ho st prai sing God , and saying , Glory to God in th e high e t, and on earth peace among men, in whom he i we!I pleased " (Luk e 2: 8- 14 ).
A tudy o f th ese proph ecies, and th ese are ju st a few of th e mo t commonly known , is convin cing evidence that Je u Chri ti th e an wer to tho e statement s of th e Old Te tament foret elling th e coming of th e Me iah . It is enough to cau e men to say with Peter, " Thou art th e Chri st, th e Son of the living God" (Matth ew 16: 16).
Christ is th e answer to the qu estion, "Who can save me." Man needs a saviour. Paul said , "a ll have inn ed , and fall hort of th e glory of God" (Rom an 3 :23). For four thou and year , th e blood of animal s had bee n off ered for remo ving 74 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES guilt, but they were only typical of another sacrifice that eventually wou ld be made, "For the law having a shadow of the good things to come , not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifice year by year , which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh. Else would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sin year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins" (Hebrews 10: 1-4) .
John introduced Jesus by saying, " ... Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world" (John I :29). By His death on the cross, a sacrifice efficacious enough to permit God to be just in upholding the dignity of His law and to forgive man of his sin, was offered by Christ. A most beautiful explanation of the atonement is given by Paul in these words: " ... whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith , in his blood , to show his righ teousness because of the passing · over of the sins done aforetime , in the forebearance of God; for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at the present season: that he might him self be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" (Romans 3 :25-26) . Peter explained it by saying , "who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto ins, might live unto righteousness; by who e stripes ye were healed" (I Peter 2:24).
In the light of all this , w~ can understand why Je us was able to ay, "I am the way , and the truth and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Also, it is better understood how the writer of Hebrews could say, "Tho ugh he was a Son, yet learned he obedience by the CHRIST IS THE ANSWER 75 things which he suffered; and having been made perfect ; he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation" (Hebrews 5 :8-9). Man needed a Saviour and Christ was the answer, as was expressed by the Lord himself , "For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19: 10).
What moves men the most in prompting them to become Christians? A.5ain, Christ is the answer. His death for our sins furnishes the strongest motivation for men to come to God. Paul expressed it well in his preaching , "For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried ; and that he hath been raised oh the third day according to the scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:34). His death for our sins makes us realize how awful sin is. Sin made it necessary for Christ to leave heaven and die on a cross. This is graphically expressed in these words of Paul, "Who, existing in the form of God , counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped , but emptied himself , taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man , he humbled himself , becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:6-8).
When we understand Christ died for our sins and took our place on the tree , and thus how guilty we are, it should make us want forgiveness and cry out as the people did on Pentecost ," ... what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37) A realization of guilt so great it caused Christ to die makes us want to be forgiven.
The death of Christ for our sins leads us to love Him . "We love, because he first loved us" (I John 4: 19). This love 76 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTUR ES
prompt ob edience, " If ye love me, ye will keep my com mandm ent s" (John 14: I 5) Th erefore , the und erstanding of th e death of Chri st is th e strong est motiv ation of all in prompting sinn ers to tru st and obey Him that they may be free from th eir sin .
Christ is the answer to the question, "To whom shall we go ?" fo r auth oritative info rmation telling how to become Christians, and how to worship. Peter' tatement , " Thou ha t th e word s of eternal life" (J ohn 6:68), i till tru e in thi s last age . God " Hath at the end of th ese day s pok en unto us Ln his Son . .. " (Hebrew I :2;. " How shall we escape, if we neglect so grea t a salvation ? whi ch having at the fir t been spok en throu gh th e Lord ... " (Hebrew s 2 : 3). From the lips of the Chri st the grea t commi ssion was given telling the apo stle s to "Go ye into all the world , and preach th e gospel to th e whol e crea tion. He th at believeth and is baptiz ed shall be saved ; but he that disbelieveth hall be cond emn ed " (Mark 16: 15-16).
He built th e chur ch of th e New Te tament and by th e Holy SpLrit, caused th e apo stles to rememb er Hi teac hing. John quo ted him a having aid , " . .. he hall teach you all thin gs, and brin g to your remembran ce all that I said unto you " (John 14:26). Thu th e ew Te tament furni he us all th e instru ctions we need to becom e a Chri tian, and enjoy all the items of wor ship enjoin ed by th e Lord. Jesus aid , " He that rej ecteth me, and receiveth not my sayin gs, hath on e that jud ge th him : th e word th at T pake hall jud ge him in the la t day" (John J 2:48). It behoo ves God' s peopl e to speak "as it were oracle of God " (I Peter 4 : 11); and " not to go beyond th e thing whi ch are writt en" (I Corinthi an 4 :6). CHRIST IS THE A SWER 77
Who can help us bear our temptations ? Again, Chri t is the answer. " Having th en a great high priest, who hath pa ed through th e heaven , Jesu th e Son of God , let us hold fast our con fession . For we have not a high priest that cann ot be tou ched with th e feeling of our infirmiti es; but on e th at hath been in all point s tempt ed like as we are, ye t withou t sin. Let us th erefore draw near with boldn e s unto th e thron e of grace, th at we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in tim e of need" (Hebrews 4 : 14-16). He know s our strength s and will not allow us to be tempt ed beyond our ability , and with every tempt ation He will pro vide a way of escape (I Corinthi ans 10:13). Elabora ting on thi s, Paul said , " Wretched man th at I am , who hall deliver me out of th e body of thi s death ? I th ank God throu gh Jesu Chri t our Lord " (Rom ans 7 :24-25). He ha not left u alone. He sees and und erstand s. " Wherefor e al o he is ab le to ave to th e utt ermo t th em th at draw near unto God throu gh him , seeing he ever liveth to make int erces ion for th em" (Hebrews 7 :25).
Who can help us bear our burdens, trials and crosses? Truly Christ is th e answer. One out standin g exa mpl e of thi s i found in Paul' s help in bearin g his th orn in th e flesh. Paul' cro ss is not known , but it brought him to his kn ees. He asked God thr ee tim es to remove it. God did no t grant th e requ est , but spok e th ese reassuring word s: "My grace i suffi cient for th ee: for my pow er is mad e perfec t in weakness." This promi se of help from God , which he firmly believed , enabled Paul to writ e th ese word s to bless all futur e generation , " Most gladly , th erefor e, would I rath er glory in my weakne sses, that th e pow er of Christ may rest upon me. Wh erefore , I tak e pleasure in weakn esses, injuri es, in nece sities, in persecution , in distresses, for Christ's ake: for when I am weak, then am I strong " (IJ Corinthi an 12:9- 10). CHR1STIS THE ANSWER 79 when we reach out for God, and ri e above the storms, things look different when we go higher and touch the hand of God.
Who is our hop e? Let Paul answer the question. To Timothy he wrote , "Paul , an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Saviour , and Christ Jesus our hope " (I Timothy 1: 1). The hope of the return of our Lord is ever before the Christian. To Titus the same apostle wrote , "looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." (Titu 2: 13).
Peter elaborates on this precious hope with these inspiring words , "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead , unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled , and that fadeth not away , reserved in heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (I Peter I : 3-5 ).
So our Lord is our hope that causes us to believe that someday He is coming back for us to take us unto Himself to a place prepared for us where we may ever be with Him and all the saints. To Him we owe all things and may we never lose sight of what is to come. In loving gratitude let us sing with deeper appreciation than ever before: 80 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
''Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found , Was blind but now I see.
Thro' many dangers, toils and snares , I have already come; 'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.
When we've been there ten thousand years , Bright shining as the sun, We've no less days to sing God's praise Than when we first begun."
John Newton 0 , LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET MEG O E.W . McMillan
A native of New Baden , Texa , Dr. McMiJJan attended Gunter Bible College, Austin College and Baylor University, where he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees. He has done advanced graduate study at South western Bapti t Theological Seminary and has received the LLD Degree from Abilene Christian College.
He has served at churches in Texas , Tenne ssee and California. He is the founder and past president of lbaraki Christian College in Jap an and is the chair man of the Ibaraki Christian College Foundation Board. He was also founder and president of Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas. He presently serves as chairman of Biblical Studies at Columbia Christian College.
He is a noted author, and speaks on numerou lectureships throughout the world .
Dr. McMiJJan is married to the former Pauline Riddle and has two daughters, Pauline and Elizabeth Randolph .
81 82 ABILENE CHRISTIAN CoLLEGE LECTURES
Understanding Love and understanding God are inseparable. He whom Christian love has master ed under stands and experiences God in his life. Likewise , he whom God completely controls understands love and experiences love in his life. The reason is that "God Is Love." 1
God is LOVE is the heart of God's Holy Book - His revelation of Himself and His will for human beings. It demands also that :
Love and Law must harmonize, for God is both ; Love and human suffering must harmonize ; Love and discipline must harmonize; Justice and mercy must harmonize; Heartbreak and happiness of mind must harmonize; Spiritual war within one must harmonize with peace unspeakable; The deepest depths of sorrow must harmonize with heights of happiness ; Faith and works must harmonize; Grace that saves and obedience to get it must harmonize ; Heaven and hell as eternal destinies must harmonize With God.
Since God's total being is Love, every thought, word, motive, and act which comes from Him is the fruit of perfect love.
LOVE'S PRE-DAWN DREAM
Before the dawn of time , God pre-determined , out of
1 I John 4:1-8 0 LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO! 83
eternity, across all the centuries of time, on into eternity beyond time, that certain things would come to pass. Among God's plans was the creation of the human being with a freedom to choose. He also knew that this freedom would result in choices which would bring sin into man's life. God further pre-determined a way of deliverance for that guilt. Some wise man said:
Infinite knowledge foreknew of man's guilt; Infinite wisdom pre-determined a way of escape; Infinite power executed that plan; Infinite love hallowed and glorified this plan.
In all of this God was accepting the challenge of Satan. Total goodness confronted total evil in mortal battle. God could have ended the battle by compulsion, but God left the human will still free to choose. God wants the creatures made in His image to return willingly the love which He so gener ously gives.
The books of Ephesians and Colossians develop this en tire pre-determined plan of God and explains how it was developed. Its culmination was at a cross, intended by its makers as the acme of shame, but was changed into a crown of glory by love that would not let go.
LOVE'S UNFOLDING IN THE MORNING OF TIME
Four thousand years of Old Testament history tell the unfolding and developing of this plan of God. We move with God as if in the inner circles of His mind, revealed in His word. Love walked hand-in-hand with Enoch, who escaped death ; love also spread the Deluge of Noah over the earth to enhance the ultimate in God's redemptive plan. Love kept in touch with the rising nations , descendants of Ham and 84 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
Japheth, sons of Noah , while working more closely with Shem , the son chosen to be the heir in the lineage to Christ. Though this lineage later received Love's law through Moses, it chose to deal mercifully with others who lived the prin ciples of the law under their own consciences. 2 Four hundred and thirty years of silence, while Abraham's descendants served as slaves in Egypt, did not coo l the ardor of Love ; it sent, in due time, Moses to deliver. The ten plague s on Egypt were the loyalty of pure love develop ed through a covenant which reached from Abraham to Calvary. Lo ve never quit. Dry highways across the Red Sea and the Jordan River were but prophetic assurances that love always opens roads for the love in human beings when it reciprocates the Divine love. The finger of God on Mt. Sinai carving His law upon stones became the historic type of the greater One who writes His laws of love in hearts of flesh, giving them new birth and the right to sit with Him in heavenly places in HI chur ch on earth. Moses said a prophet would come like unto himself. 3 Settled in Canaan , God's people betrayed him seven times under the judges ; they violated every principle of God's covenant with them under Saul, Solomon , and the divided kingdom. Prophets preached reform and return to God , but without success; but the voice of LO VE through prophets and psalmists foretold of a time when unpr ecedented things would come. A psalmist cried out in the words of Jesus on the cross;4 Isaiah spoke of somebody who was led as a sheep to slaughter;5 and added: "He has borne our sorrows, carried
2 Romans 2: 14 3 Deut. 18 : 13 4 Psa. 22: 1 5 Isa. 53:7 0 LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO! 8.5 our griefs, and by HIS stripes we are healed. " 6 Love moved the hearts of heathen kings to capture God 's children and refine them . The Jews returned from Babylon to their home land humbled , refined, then headed toward the noonday of tiin e. Though severely tried at times , Lo ve had not quit . It had chastened , punished , and silenced its voice at times ; but love had watched, hovered over. and patiently waited until it could succeed in the human will. Lo ve Did Not Quit .
LOVE ON EXHIBITION AT HIGB NOON IN TIME
Jesus Christ was unrelenting Love in human flesh . He was lo ve on exhibition at high noon in time. From the beginning of His ministry, he walked a straight path to His cross. He never tried or desired to escape it, not even in Gethsemane. That path was marked out for Him before the ·universe was made. His death was predetermined before matter was made. His cross was the meridian of time. The Christian centuries are the evening of time. The Christian has access to all of the wisdom , power , knowledge, and beauty of God . He is the heir of all the Love of God . As we walk with Jesu s Christ , we are with Somebody bigger than any experi ence He had ; He never traded principle for policy ; He demanded nothing of others for Himself : He demanded everything of Himself for other s. Love in Christ identified him with the need of all people.
I. Christ, therefore , was a great miner of human good. He attached Himself to the sincerity in Nathanael, notwith standin~ the latter 's prejudi ce and made out of him an apostle. He att ached Himself to a woman of low m,:rals
6 Isa. 53 : 3-4 7 John 1 S6 ABILENE CHRISTIAN CoLLEGE LECTURES
at Jacob's well, though she was highly prejudi ced against Him, and changed her into an evangel of good news to her community. 8 Among the most moving scenes in the records of Jesus was one in a Pharisee 's home; a sinful woman washed the tired feet of Jesu s with her tears and wiped them with her hair , then kissed his feet .9 For her love, he forgave her sins.
2. The night before He died, He warned Peter that he would deny his Lord , then assured him, "I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail." 1 0 The morning He arose , some women went early to the empty tomb , met an angel, then Mary met Jesus Himself, who said, "Go and tell my disciples, and Peter, that I am alive and will meet them in Galliee, as I promised I would."
3. All of this He did though no mention is made that one apostle stood with him in the court of Pontius Pilate , and though only John, of the apostles, attended His cruci fixion as far as we know. No apostle is named among those who helped bury Him, but He passed as unimportant all these neglects , because : Lov e would not let go.
4. No words can describe the agonies, phy sical or mental , that Christ endured in His death ; but the Biblical emphasi s is on what was so divinely great in the story. Religious prejudi ce crucified Jesus, but many others had died that way; politi cal policy crucified Jesus , but unnumbered thousands before that day had died by that policy . Two other men died on crosses beside the cross of Jesus Christ that morning but nobody knows their names. Their crosses and the cross of Je sus Christ were all intended to be a symbol of shame and disgrace; but
8 John 4 9 Luke 7 10 Luke 22:31-34 0 LOVE THAT WlLL NOT LET ME GO! 87
the sublime love of heaven changed the shame of Jesus ' cross into a crown of glory , "Towering o'er the wrecks of time." So, we joyfully sing today:
When I survey the wondrous cross On which the prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss And pour contempt on all my pride.
Were the whole world of nature mine , That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my life, my love, my all.
And this love-theme moves on through all Re velation. Our thoughts to this moment have covered the following divisions of material:
Love's Before Dawn Dream Love' Before Noon of Time Unfolding Love's High Noon Demonstration
We next move into LOVE'S EVENING OF LIFE GOD'S FINISHING TOUCHES. God's church is not a set of human trash, hypocrites , whitewashed formalistic pretenders. God breathed Hi nature into them.
Possibly it would be well for those who say most about supposed hypocrites in the chu rch today to remember that Jesus said: People do not even know Him unless they deny THEMSELVES , take up THEIR crosses and FOLLOW Him. Also, our beginning text says that love in the human for other human beings and God must match the Divine love for the human. And if it does not match, who is really the hypocrite? 88 l\BlLENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
The careful reader sees in the books of Ephesian and Colossians a household of God, built out of very unpromising materials. God is taking what some call human tra h and building Himself a household of no longer trash but of people ~ili •
Surpassing mercy and grace ; Surpassing greatness of power ; Surpassing workmanship , because it is God's ; Surpassing fullness , matching the selflessness of Christ ; Surpassing manifold wisdom from God.
Paul's great prayers for Christian maturity are contained in Ephesians and Colossians especially . They plead for the maturity of all believers into the stature of the fullness of Christ. Careful Bible students KNOW how concerned God is for this maturing. This concern guarantees that neither "prin cipalities nor powers nor life, nor death, nor any other ·thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God." But what about our love in return?
God used the practical minded James to plant Christians' feet on solid earth, hard at work , lest they come up to the judgment with dead faith, as "dead" ducks ; He led the author of "Hebrews" to employ nine chapters admonishing wavering Christians to stop pitying themselves and blaming other in their persecutions. In chapter ten , he empha izes encouraging others to love, good works, and public assemblies. Then he took the feet which James set to hard work and planted them on a race track to "run with patience the race set before iliem," remembering the record which Jesus et , because "He endured the cro , despised the shame and is set down at God's right hand." His climax is: "We have received a 0 LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO! 89 kingdom that can not be shaken; Jet us, therefore , hold fast." The inspired, fiery , Jude comes in with a short, shocking message which opens the door into eternal brimstone, where some rebellious angels are locked up, to be joined by the incorrigibles of all time, including unfaithful church members , suffering everlasting punishment.
The final scenes in this march of unrelenting love is unfolded in the book of Revelation. The "Apostle of Love" John - almost one hundr ed years old , matches his family heritage as a "Son of Thunder" in his inspired hair,raising , blood-curdling chapters . A prisoner on Patmos, he was called up to heaven. What he saw may have been the first moving p1cture scene ever thrown on a screen . God showed John what heaven looks at all the time on earth, and then told him , "Write what you see and hear and send it to the churches ." Michael and his angels were locked in war with the devil and his angels (demons) . Under the caption of carnal warfare, there were horses , bloodshed, and immoral women. So fierce was the battle that stars fell from heaven to earth. The is ue was salvation for mankind through the blood of the Lamb. When war was over, victory belonged to the saints. The devil and his hosts were cast into the lake of fire. John told us what the saved were. "A great host which no man cou ld number ," robed in garments whiter than snow, with crowns on their heads and palms in their hands." They came marching with no uneven steps singing "The song of Moses and the Lamb."
So, beginning before matter was created, God planned a course of action which, in our time , already has crossed
• 90 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES almost six thousand years ; and it will go on as long as time lasts. In all of this time, evil forces and good forces have been arrayed in battle for the allegiance and loyalties of the human spirit and will. Infinite Love, supported by infinite knowl edge and wisdom, strengthened by infinite power and love, have offered themselves directly and through spirit aids in the forms of angels and the Holy Spirit. They have revealed themselves in the Holy Bible. Oppo sing these are the forces of evil, who never take vacations , never sleep, and never rest. They seek through appeals to the human weaknesses, false doctrines, misleading prejudicing terms , to win, woo , and achieve. The day is far spent for those who once appealed to all religious groups to unite on the Bible as God's inspired word. "Let us speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent" seems to have joined the casualties of "change" though it is Peter's appeal also. But as for me: The Bible is still the only intelligent communication that we have in understanding God's will. The undeniable help received from spirits already named in this address can be hoped for but only as God's word promises. Within this framework of hope and expectation , we have the blessed privilege to sing:
Let those refuse to sing Who never knew our God ; But children of the heavenly King May speak their joys abroad.
We're marching to Zion , Beautiful , beautiful Zion ; We're marching upward to Zion , The beautiful city of God.
Praise God that the closing invitation in the march of love is: 0 LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO! 91
"The Spirit and the bride say, Come; Let those who will say, Come ; Whosoever will, let him come And take the water of life freely."
"When we've been there ten thousand years, Bright, shining as the sun, We've no less days to sing God's praise Than when we just begun."
THANK GOD for the love that knew me before I was born, laid hands on me when I was a little boy, has guided my feet, warmed my heart, chastised my wavering at times, given me courage, and brightened my hope.
0, the Love that will not let me go! THE POWER OF SUFFE RING LOVE J.P. Sander
Education: B.S. from Texas Christian University M.S. and B.D. from Vanderbilt University Ph .D from University of Southern California
Dr. Sanders has served churche s in Texas, Tennessee and CaUfornia . He has held lecture in Frankfurt, Germany, Madras , India , and igeria . He is co-founder and first editor of the Twentieth Century Christian magazine and co-author of Preaching in the Twenti eth Century. He is li ted in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Education.
He is currently President of Columbia Chri tian College , having served as Executive Vice-President of Columbia Christian College , May I 970-1974 . He previou ly served as Dean of Pepp erdine University , Dean of David Lipscomb College, and hair man, Department of Religion Pepperdine.
" But the Pharisees , when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to Hence, gathered themse lves together. And one of them, a lawyer , asked him a question , trying him : Teacher , which is the great com mandment in the law? And he aid unto him, Thou hall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart , and with all thy soul , and with all thy mind. Thi is t h e great and first com- 92 THE POWER OF SUFFERING LOVE 93
mandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments the whole law hangeth , and the prophets " (Matthew 22:34-40).
"For God so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish , but have eternal life" (John 3: 16).
'.'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." "We love, because he first loved us." (I John 4 : 10 ... 19).
Paul prayed for the Ephe ian Chri tian that they might be quick to apprehend, together with all the aint , the bread th and length and height and depth of the love of Christ, which passe knowledge (Eph. 3: 18). Paul was very much aware that the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of God are beyond the limitations of human understanding. Just as the love of a parent is beyond the comprehension of the five-year old child, o the love of God is beyond the comprehen ion of the wise t of men. But while the child does not under stand the parent's love, he can re pond to it in trust and affection. He can fee l it effects in his life and find himself trengthened and su tained by it. The mature Christian finds strength and hope in the love of God , although he can never hope to comprehend it in its entirety. We should like , therefore , to come to grip with at lea t ome of the thing that are po s ible for us to know about the love of God and the power that it is capable of manifesting in our lives. [n the gospel we are brought face to face with the love of God , and the gift of that love , who i Jesu Christ our Lord. We are also made aware of the fact that certain demand are made upon us. We are a sured that God loves us and the demand is made that we in turn should love Him and that we hould love our neighbors. One of the facts that 94 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
needs to be emphasized most clearly is simply this : that we cannot meet the demand until we have first received the gift. Throughout all of God's dealing with mankind , God has always provided the motivation before making a demand on men.
In the law of Moses men were taught , "Thou shalt love God with all thy heart, with all thy mind , with all thy oul, and with all thy strength." Jesus later said that this is the first and the greatest commandment, and that there is a second like unto it: "Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself." But God never made this demand of the people of Israel until He had clearly demonstrated His love for them. He led them out of Egyptian slavery; He redeemed them from bondage ; He gave them their freedom. Only after He demonstrated His love with such remarkable clarity did He make the demand of them that they were to love God and one another. The apostle John reminds us in the fourth chapter and nineteenth verse of his first epistle that we love because He first loved us. If He had not loved us first, we would not know how to love Him. We would not know how to love one another. We would not know how to love our families. We would not know how to love our brethren, and certainly we would not know how to love our enemies. Because God has loved us first, we learn how to love so that we become capable of loving others.
A number of years ago while I was living in Los Angeles, Mr. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan. Some of you may have followed the trial in the new papers . You will recall the testimony of the psychiatrist that Sirhan Sirhan had not truly known a father's love. Since he had not been loved he did not know how to love; consequently his heart was filled with THE POWER OF SUFFERING LOVE 95
hate - a hate that expre ssed itself in th e tra gic hootin g of Senator Kenn edy .
About two and on e half year ago we rece ived word of th e birth of our fourth grand child , the first child born to thi s parti cular on and his wife. The next week I found it conv enient to go down and visit th em. They took me in and show ed him to me as he was lying asleep in his littl e crib. I could tell by th e way th eir faces beamed th at th ey loved him very mu ch. Th ey had been lookin g for his comin g for some tim e, and th ey had mad e all th e preparation th at they kn ew to make for his arrival. Now that he had arrived and everyon e wa well, they were very happy and th eir heart s were filled with love as th ey look ed upon him. But he didn 't Jove th em ; he was ju st a tiny littl e bundl e of selfishn ess who . want ed what he want ed wh en he want ed it. He didn 't care how tired Moth er was, nor what a hard day Dad had comin g up tomorrow . If he want ed something in th e middl e of the night he set up a howl until he got it. Ju st a few days ago I visit ed him again . He is now learning to love th em. Having been loved continuou sly sin ce his arrival on thi planet , he is respondin g in loving them back. As th ey go on lovin g him week after week, month after month , and yea r after yea r, he will learn to love th em ; he will also learn how to love God . He will learn how to love his neighbor s, and he will ultim ately learn how to love his enemies. He is learnin g how to love by being loved, and thi s is what John tells us: we love beca use He first loved us. We have to receive th e gift befo re we can meet th e demand s.
Thi s brin gs us to a very important prin ciple th at is essen tial for us to learn if we are to be matur e Chri stians. When people act th eir wor st th ey need to be loved the mo t, and when th ey are acting th eir wor st, it is mo st diffi cult for other 96 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES people to love them. It is here too that God shows us how. The golden text of the Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The world that God loved was not very lovable. It was a hard, cold, cruel, evil world - a world in rebellion against God. It was a world characterized by all the terrible sins that Paul mentioned in the first chapter of his letter to the Romans , and yet God loved that world . He loved it so much that He gave Jesus to die for it. He didn't love it because it was lovable ; He didn't love it because it deserved to be loved; He loved it because it needed to be loved. This is an important difference between human Jove and divine love ; human love loves that which is lovely and lovable , that which is deserving. God's love, mature Christian love, loves the unlovable , the unlovely , the undeserving. God's love is creative: there is a power in it to change the unlovely into the lovable, to change bad men into good men, and to change good men into better men into better men still . God didn't say to the world: If you will straighten yourself out , quit your wrongs , and prove yourselves worthy , then I will Jove you . He loved first, and as we respond to that love we come to love Him, and all those whom He loves.
Perhaps one of the reasons so many of us find it difficult to love others , and to love our enemies as we should, is that we have not completely opened up our own hearts so that the love of God fills them completely. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that Christ died for the ungodly (Rom. 5:6) - that is, for people who were wicked , for people who were undeserving , for people who were unlovely and, per haps, almost unlovable. And yet God loved them and God demonstrated His love by sending Christ to die for them . THE POWER OF SUFFERl G LOVE 97
"But God shows His Jove for u in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for u "(Rom. 5:8).
There are many ten ions in the world: hatred s exist with in communities , sometimes within familie , between races and between states. It is therefore ab olutely imperative that somebody be willing to love somebody el e who doesn ' t deserve it but who desperately need it ; otherwi e there will be no pos ible way of stopping this reverberating cycle of hate. Yet human nature is of such character that is very loathe to do anything for anyone else that i n't de erved. A preacher wa invited one time to go down to the Bowery in New York City and preach to what were known a the bums on Skid Row. He wondered what to talk about, and finally decided to tell the story of the prodigal and hjs return . When he told of the prodigal' leaving the pigpen and returning home and of the father's running out to meet rum, falling on his neck and kissing him, someone in the back of the audi ence shouted out, "So he put it over on the old man again." Somehow or other human beings feel that something is being put over on them if they manifest love where it isn't deserved, and since they don't want anything put over on them they simply refuse to love where love i undeserved , even though needed.
Strength and weakness are very often viewed from differ ent points of view by God and men. No doubt both the Jews and Rom ans felt that it wa because of their superior strength that they were able to overcome Jesus' "weakness" and put Him to death. But Paul reminds us in his letter to the Corinthians that the weakness of God is stronger than men, the foolishness of God wi er than men. God can choose the despised things of the world - yea, the things that are not - in order that He might bring to naught the things that are. In 98 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE L ECTU RES the first century was there ever a power that was greater than the power of Rom e? The march of her legions was known and feared around the world. Her citizens felt that Rom e was the eternal city . "There will always be a Rome ," they said . And during that same era was there any thing more de pised than the cross? Rome would not permit her citizens to be crucified even though they were convicted of crim e; yet God took that cro s, the ymbol of ignominious shame , and by means of it He brought to naught the power of Rome. Truly, the weakness of God is tronger than men, and God can take things that are de pised - yea , things that are nothing in the eye of the world and by means of them bring to naught the power and the wisdom of the wise.
The cross reveals the love of God and demonstrates the power of God in changing human per onality and making it better. In one of E. Stanley Jones' books, which perhaps a number of you have read , he tells of a man in Indi a who was converted to Chri tianity. This man was em ploy ed by the Indian government and there were periods when it was neces- ary for him to be gone from home a number of weeks at a time. On one of these trips he became unfaithful to his wife , but he was a man of deeply en itive con cience, and he suffered deep feeling of guiJt. He finally came to the conclu sion that the only way he cou ld be rid of this guilt was to confess his wrong to his wife and seek her forgiveness. He told Dr. Jones that when he was trying to explain to her what he had done, and when it finally dawned on her what he wa trying to ay, that he turned very pale and fell back against the wall. "Then ," he said, " I saw for the fir t time in my life the real meaning of the cross , for I saw in her eye love cruc ified by in." That's what happened at the cross: divine love wa crucified by human sin- the sin of the Roman soldiers who drove the nails through His hands and His feet ; THE POWER OF SUFFERING LOVE 99
the sin of the Roman governor who , knowing He was inno cent, nevertheless turned Him over for crucifixion; the sin of the Jew ish leaders who, out of envy and pride, clamored for His death; the sin of the populace who , because of their general indifference, allowed it to happen; the sin of all tho e who had preceded Him; and the in of all who have been born and who will ever be born as lon g as the world sha ll exist. The love of God was crucified by human in, by your sin and my sin and the in of all the world.
But there is a creative power in this suffer ing love that is capab le of changing men; thi is the power of the gospel. It can rehab ilitate human personality and make good men out of bad men , and there is no power in all the world that is comparab le to it. In the twelfth chapter of John's gospel we have the story of some Greek who were eeking Christ. They hesitated to approach Him directly, o they found one of His di cip les with a Greek name, Phllip , and they told him that they wanted to see Jesus. Philip wa hesitant and approached Andrew, and together they took the Greeks to Chri t. J e us responded in what might at first appear a quite unusual man ner. He aid, "Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die it abideth by itself alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." Then he added, "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me." He had reference , of course, to the cross on which He was crucified.There wa manifest in that cross the power of uffering love that has reached out around the world to bring not only Greeks but men of every race , kindred, tribe, and tongue into His fold. The arm s of that cros reach out to envelop all mankind and those who receive the gift into their hearts , who open up their lives to receive it - receive the power that enables them to meet the qemand of loving Him , their neighbors, and even their enemies. There is a certain physical power to be found 100 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES in the bayonet and in the atom bomb. There is an economic power that is discovered in the prudent wisdom of enlight ened self-interest, but the only power that can change the human heart from the in ide and make good men out of bad men , the only power that is capable of rehabilitating human personality and saving it eternally, is the power of suffering love manifest on the cross of Christ.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righ teousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written , But the righteous shall live by faith" (Rom. 1: 16). The heart of the gospel is closely related to the cross of Christ. Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians that he declared unto them the gospel "how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (I Cor. 15: 1-4). Here God's love is demonstrated in the willingness of Christ to die on the cross, and the power of God is demonstrated in raising Him from the dead. This same power becomes operative in the life of the sinner when he receives the love of God into his heart, responds in obedience to the gospel , puts his trust in Christ to save him , rather than any ability of his own to achieve his own salvation . Thus accepting Christ , the power of God's suffering love becomes effective in changing his life from one of selfish concern and the love of sin and its plea sures to a life of dedication unto God in which the glory of God is sought above everything else. To the Jews the story of this cross became a stumbling block, and to the Greeks Paul said it was foolishness . But the "foolishness of God is wiser than men" (ICor. 1:2 5). We can see the power of suffering love as it is worked in the hearts .and lives of millions of people, transforming them from servants of Satan into ser vants of light. THE POWER OF SUFFERING LOVE 101
Are you willing to accept this foolishness into your heart - this foolishness of God that is wiser than men, this weakness of God that is stronger than men? When I was a youngster in high school there came a man to Fort Worth whom I used to hear preach. He was a Canadian by birth and his name was Campbell. He used to end so many of his ser mons by saying, "God loves you; love Him back." And this, after all, is the only proper respon e to the love of God - to love back. God manifested His Jove toward us on the cross. Having loved us first, He has made it possible for us to love Him back, and He has made it possible for us to love not only Him, but when His love fills our hearts, we become capable of loving our neighbors, of loving our families, of loving the brotherhood, and of even loving our enemies. And so we urge you to accept the gospel of Christ , which introduces His love into your heart, and to respond in obedience to the go pel. THE GOSPEL IN EA RTHEN VESSE LS R. N. Hogan
R. Hogan was born in Tennes ee in J 902. He studied with the late G. P. Bowser before beginning his preaching. For a tin1e he worked in a plant in Detroit , but his one desire was to preach. With the help of the Jimmie Lovell's, R. . Hogan began preaching first in cross-country tent meetings.
In J 937, Hogan vi ited Los Angeles and held a meeting from which the congregation at l J 0th and Wilmington was started. The following year, he returned to Los Angeles for another meeting, and from this meeting another congregation was begun. This new congregation invited hin1 to labor with them, and in the fall of 1938 he began working with what is known today as the Figueroa Church of Christ. From a small beginning, this congregation grew to more than 1,000 members and has helped establish other congregations in the area.
Hogan appears regularly on Christian college lecture ships and travels extensively in the States and abroad to preach the gospel.
Certain ly I want to expre s my sincere grati tude to the planning com mittee for having selected me to speak on this great Lecturesh ip program. However, I question their wisdom in electing me,
102 THE GOSPEL IN EARTHEN VESSELS 103 for I know that there are many who are better qualified than your s truly to peak on o great a program. Now that I have been selected, I shall do my best to speak the truth in love with reverence and godly fear.
The ubje ct for our con ideration at thi tim e is, "T he Gospel in Earthen Vessels." I now call your att ention to II Corinthi ans 4: 1-7:
Therefore, seeing we have thi mini try, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden th ing of di hon esty, not walking in craf tin ess, nor han dling the word of God deceitfully ; but by manifestation of the truth commendin g ourselves to every man' s co nscience in the sight of God . But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom th e god of this world hat h blinded th e minds of them whi ch believe not , lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ , who is the image of God, h ould shine unt o them. For we preac h not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and our selves you r servants fo r Jesu ' ake. For God , who co mmand ed the light to shine out of dark ness, ha th shin ed in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we h ave this trea ure in earthen ves els, that the exce l lency of the power may be of God , and not of us.
Did you hear him ? He aid, "We have this treasure in EARTHEN VESSELS ." Thi treasure? What treasure? Cer tainly , the inspired apostle Paul is refe rrin g to the gospel of Christ. He had ju t said, " But if our GOSP EL be hid , it is hid to THEM THAT ARE LOST ," ver e 3. Be it rememb ered that a tre asure i something of great worth or value. I know of nothing that i of more value than the gospel of the Son of God . Paul sajd, "For I am not asham ed of th e gospel of Christ : for it is th e pow er of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew first, and al o to the Greek. " 104 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
Here it is clearly stated that the gospel of Christ is God's power to save the believer. Thus we see that the gospel has to do with the salvation of the soul. In the estimation of Jesus, the soul of one person values more than all of the wealth of the entire world (Matt. 16:26). With this in mind , we can easily understand why Paul refers to the Gospel of Christ as a treasure. But he said, "We have THIS TREASURE in earthen vessels" (verse 7). True, for Christ, immediately after being raised from the grave, committed the gospel into the hands of His disciples (earthen vessels) telling them, "Go ye into all the world , and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15, 16). Now inasmuch as this treasure , the gospel of Christ, has been delegated to EARTHEN VESSELS, we must conclude that the claim of direct revelations from God is a lot of "Hog-wash." God said that He has not spoken in secret (Isa. 45: 19). Again He said, "Come ye near unto me, HEAR YE THIS; I )'lave not spoken in secret from the beginning" (Isa. 48: 16). Jesus Christ said, "In secret have I said NOTHING" (John 18:20).
Please keep in mind that the word and the gospel are used interchangeably. Therefore, to preach the word is to preach the gospel, and to preach the gospel is to preach the word (I Pet. I :23, 24). Men are saved by obeying th.e gospel (Mark 16: 15, 16; II Thess. I: 7-9; I Cor. 15: 1, 2). Remember, Paul said, the gospel is God's power to save the believer. THE POWER, not a power. My friends, the gospel of Christ is the ONLY power that God exerts in saving the believer. He does not exert a power to save the unbeliever short of obeying His word (Heb. 5:8 , 9). God has but one gospel (Gal. 1 :6-9). He forbids preaching another gospel and pronounces a curse on all who do (Gal. I: 8, 9). Paul said further. "But there be THE GOSPEL IN EARTHEN VESSELS 105
some that trouble you, and WOULD PERVERT the go pel of Christ" (verse 7). He did not say they did pervert Christ's gospel, but they WOULD. The thought is, they would if they could, but the gospel of Christ cannot be perverted. There fore , they just preach another gospel and he aid, "Let him be accursed." The word came from God , who gave the word to Christ (Deut. 18:18 ; John 17:8). Christ gave the word to the apostles while he re. He went back to heaven and gave the word to the Holy Spirit (John 16: 7-15). The Holy Spirit came to the apo ties and revealed the word to them and they wrote them that he may READ and understand them (Eph . 3: 1-5). God cannot directly tell men what to do without breaking His will, for He aid hear Hi Son (Matt. 7: 5; Acts 3:22, 23). He gave His Son all authority both in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28: 18), but Christ cannot directly tell men what to do without breaking His will. Remember it has been delegated to EARTHEN VESSELS and Christ and God are heavenly beings. If Christ could have done it, He would have told Saul of Tarsus what to have done while in personal conversation with him on the Damascus road, but He ent him to the earthen ves el, Ananias (Acts 22: 6-16) . Angels cannot directly tell one what to do to be saved without breaking God's will, for they are heavenly beings and this is the work of earthen vessels.
If angels could tell men directly what to do , why didn't the angel tell Cornelius what to have done instead of delaying his salvation for four days? The angel told Cornelius to send for Peter, the earthen vessel , who would tell him words whereby he and his house would be saved (Acts IO: 1-5; 11 : 14 ). The same is true of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit could tell one what to do directly, why did he end Philip to the man of Ethiopia instead of going to the man himself? The Holy Spirit is a heavenly record bearer and the gospel , God's 106 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES power to save the believer , is in the hand of earthen vessels. The disciples of Chri t have been commi ioned to preach the whole gospel to the whole world and the responsibility rests upon the Church of the Son of God (Eph. 3: I 0) . EXEGESIS OF DIFFICULT PASSAGES
WHERE LIBERTY AND LOVE MEET A Study of Romans 14:1-15 :3 Neale Pryor Dr. Pryor is the son of Mr. and Mrs. eale B. Pryor of Mayfield , Kentucky . After graduating from Freed Hardeman College in 1954, he received his B.A. in English from Harding College in 1956 . He holds the M.A. in Bible from Harding (1958) , the·M.Th. in Bible, Harding (1960) , and the Th.D. in Bible from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (1969). He has done graduate work in Engli h at Vanderbilt. He has served as minister in churches in Illinois and Louisiana , and currently teaches on the Harding faculty. Dr. Pryor was named in the Outstanding Educators of America in 1971. He received the Outst anding Young Teacher Award from Harding in 1966, and the Distinguished Teacher Award in 1970 . He is listed in Outstanding Young Men of America , 1970. He is married to the former Treva Lou Terrell , and they are the parents of two children , Alan Neale and Lori Lou.
Near the clo e of the greatest of Paul's doctrinal treatise lies a discussion of one of the most practical of problems. Just how much should one give in to the scruples of his broth er? How much freedom does one enjoy in Christ? This question came to a head over the problem of
109 110 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTUR ES
eating meats.
BACKGROUND "One man has faith that he may eat all things , but he that i weak eats vegetable only" (Rom ans 14:2). R. L. Whiteside contended that in Roman s the meats in contro versy were those which J ewi h Christian refused to eat. 1 Although many Jews had become Christians , they still clung to their old ways of life, even to following the Levitical food laws. Even Peter exclaimed long after his convers ion to Chri t, " By no mean , Lord , for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean" (Acts IO: 14). It is hard to break with one's background and culture. It is probable that many Jewish Christian followed the Mosaic legislatio n on meats until their death.
It is more likely that the meat in Roman s 14 is not food forbidden by the law of Moses, but meat which had been offered to idol . In I Corinthian 8-10 it is obvious that a similar controver y existed in Corinth and the meat was that which had been offered to Idol s: "Now concerning thing sacrificed to idols ... " (I Corinthians 8: 1). The connection between the Rom an passage and the I Corinthians pa ssage is more apparent when one realizes that Roman s was written from Corinth. Paul saw the problem in Corinth, and also realized that the problem existed in Rom e a well.
There was nothin g in the law of Moses that forbade eating meat or drinking wine (Roman 14: 2 1). Anders Nygren further observed that Paul was always eager to epa rate Jewish shack les from the Christian faith and certainly would not have taken such a conciliatory attitude had the e meat been those of the Jewish food laws .2 THE "WEAK" BROTHER OF ROMANS 14 111
From the context of I Corinthians 8-10 it seems that when animals were sacrificed in the pagan temples , the worshipper ate some of that sacrifice and in that manner had fellowship with the idol itself. The carcass that remained was then taken to the meat market and sold to the public . Those weak in the faith , still fresh from idolatry , felt that it was wrong to eat such meat sold in the markets . Since the meat has been offered to idols , it would be an act of idolatry to eat it. Other , stronger in the faith, maintained that an idol was nothing. Therefore presenting the meat to an idol was a meaningless act. There was nothing wrong with eating this meat. Such was the position Paul took in I Corinthians 8:4, 7.
Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols , we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the wor ld, and there is no God but one ... However not all men have this knowledge ; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now , eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is denied.
This controversy had led to bitter feelings and divisive attitudes in the church at Rome. Each party was condemning the other. In this situation Paul seized the opportunity to teach a marvelous lesson on Christian liberty and love. He answers the problem with two main points: (1) Each Christian is individually responsible to God , and not to his brother. (2) Yet the law of brotherly love compels the strong to yield to the weak.
CHRISTIAN LIBERTY - Romans 14: 1-12 In Romans 14: 1-2 Paul emphasized one main point , that the Christian is responsible directly to God . His faith is a personal matter between him and his God . Basically the matter of eating meats is a matter of one's own faith . 112 ABILENE CHRISTIAN CoLLEGE LECTURES
Paul recognized that every Christian is not alike. Some will eat meats , others will not ; some will regard every day alike, others will not. In verses 2-6 Paul points out that there can be diversity within the framework of unity . It is an unhealthy neurosis in the church that demands that all think and act alike. Among the disciples of Jesus, what diversity existed! There was Simon the Zealot, who opposed Roman taxes; and there was Matthew the Publican, who collected them. There were the elite, such as Joseph of Arimathaea , and Nicodemus; there were also the publican Zaccheus and the demon possessed Mary Magdalene.
At least three factors make it impossible for everyone in the fellowship of faith to be alike. Basically men are differ ent ; children with the same home background turn out radi cally different. "Men are not alike, nor should they be so. " 3 Second, Christians come from such different backgrounds . There were the Jews steeped in the laws and traditions of their faith. There were the pagans, who knew little or nothing of Moses. Third , there are different levels of maturity within the same body. There are the strong in faith who have weath ered the storms of life. There are the babes in Christ who still must feed upon the milk of the word. Any church , whether it be in Rome or Corinth, or whether it be in the first or the twentieth century, must finq harmony in the midst of diver sity. Unity does not depend on sameness, but on everyone accepting Jesus as his Lord.
Note that here the weaker brother is the one who is the more scrupulous. Extreme conservatism is not always a sign of a mature faith. Often the weak brother is more narrow because he is too insecurf in thP. faith to allow any variation or difference of opinion. He has to have everything either black or white. All matters, even opinions , have to be legis lated. THE "WEAK" BROTHER OF ROMANS 14 113
In Romans 14: 1 Paul enjoins the strong to receive the weak man, but not in order to badger him with arguments and debate. The weak in faith must be allowed time in which to mature. He also should be given the right environment in which he can grow - an environment of patience, tolerance, and love. The strong is not to ridicule his brother's beliefs. "No man remains unwounded when that which he thinks precious is laughed at. " 4
The basic principle Paul set forth is that each man's faith is a personal matter between him and God. Eating meats or not eating meats is a personal matter. Just so is the obser vance of days or the refusal to observe days. Paul expressed fear over the Galatians because they were observing days and seasons (Galatians 4: I 0-11 ). He also said that no one should bind the observance of days in the Mosaic law upon the Colossians (Colossians 2: 16). Although Paul deplored such practice as a matter of faith, he admitted such as a matter of opinion . Perhaps the same application could be made to the observance of Christmas. If one wants to think of the birth of Christ on December 25, and even sing about it, there is no harm.Yet it is sin to bind this observance on others , or even to teach that all must regard this day as the day of Chri t's birth. Would it be permissable to preach on the Resurrection on Easter Sunday? Or is this the only Sunday in the year when such a sermon would be out of place?
Romans 14: 7 has often been misapplied: "For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself." The impor tant lesson of one's responsibility to his brother is often drawn from this passage . Although it is a scriptura l principle, this is not what Paul is saying here. In Romans 14:7 Paul is making the point that everyone lives and dies for the Lord. Each Christian is the Lord's servant. and he is answerable to l l4 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
Him. Note verse 12: "So then each one of us shall give ac count of himself to God ."
The principle of Christian liberty is founded on the rela tionship each has to his God. In the final outcome, man is answerable only to God . While it is true that brethren should be concerned about one another and that elders watch over the souls of those under their charge as they that shall give account (Hebrews 13: 17), no fellow Christian is the final judge of any other. Since each is answerable to God , one's brother should not, indeed he cannot , play God and sit in judgment upon his fellow servant.
James carried this principle one step further.
Po not speak against one another , brethren . He who speaks against a brother , or judges his brother , speaks against the law, and judges the law ; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a jud ge of it (James 4: 11 ).
Brethren are helpers of one another , not judge s. Within this framework it is pos ible to love, work with , and even appreci ate another without making him conform to one's own stan dards .
Faith is a personal thing. Each man's relation to God is unique . The words of the song "I Did It My Way" could apply in the Christian faith . In accordance with the Word of God and in obedience to its prin ciples , there is liberty for each to serve his God in his own way . One cannot believe for another, nor can he force him to pray, or commune, or sing, or behave just as he does. When Peter asked Jesus what would happen to John , the Lord taught him a great lesson on minding his own business: "If I want him to remain until I come , what is that to you? " (John 21 :22) . On matters of THE " WEAK" BROTHER OF ROMANS 14 115 opinion it would be well for each to mind his own business. If a brother wants to observe a day above another, or if he wants to eat meat or leave it alone, that is between him and the Lord. "To his own master he stands or falls ... " (Romans 14:4).
BROTHERLY LOVE - Roman s 14: 13-15:3 In Roman s 13: 8-10 Paul had stressed the all importance of Christian love. Love is a debt that can never be paid (vs. 8). It is. the summation of the entire law (vs. 8-10). Now he gave his audience an opportunity to put this theory into practice. The attitude of the strong brother to the weak should show forth the real meaning of agape: to put the other' good before one's own. Although Christian liberty would give the strong brother the right to eat meats , the higher Jaw of agape might demand that he forego his right because of another's need.
Note that the yielding was placed on the strong instead of the weak. That is how it should be. The weak cannot support the strong; the strong must help the weak. "Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those with out strength and not just please ourselves" (Romans 15: I). It has to be this way because the weak could not yield to the strong with out offending his conscience. If he thought eating meats was wrong and he did it to please the strong, he would have sinned in defiling his conscience (Romans J 4: 14, 23).
God's children should be looking for opportunities to express love to others. Here was a grand opportunity for this. The love for the weak brother is expressed not only in the respect shown for him, but even in the willingness of the strong to forego that to which he otherwise had a perfect right! 116 ABILENE CHRISTIAN CoLLEGE LECTURES
One's relationship with his God must be right betore he can have the right relationship with his brethren. Only when he realizes his (and his brother's) personal responsibility is to God, can he be in any position to help his fellow servant. Only when he has basked in the warmth of God's love can he radiate that love to others and accept others with their imper fections as God had accepted him. "Wherefore accept one another , just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God" (Romans 15:7).
If Christ died for this brother, should not the strong be willing to give up some favorite food for him? 5
Again and again, in every sphere of life, the Christian is confronted with the fact that he must examine things, not only as they affect himself , but also as they affect other people. 6
Notice the stress on accepting the brother. "Accept the one who is weak" (14: 1). "Let each of us please his neighbor" (15: 2). "Wherefore accept one another" (15 : 7). This accep tance is much more than tolerance. The original word carries with it the idea of "take to one's self," "admit fully into one's company."
Here one learns the real meaning of Christian liberty. Christian freedom is not the permission to do what one likes, but to do what Christ likes. Real freedom is found in bringing one's will in subjection to his Lord . "Without Christ a man is a slave to his habits, his pleasures, his indulgences. " 7
Unhappy man! It is better to be the slave of scruples than of self. In order to allow yourself another dish- you would slight an anxious friend's conscience, and so far as your conduct is concerned, push him to a violation of it. 8 THE "WEAK" BROTHER OF ROMANS 14 11 7
Paul's main thrust in the latter part of Romans 14 is that one might curtail his freedom in the interest of love for his brother. "For if because of food your brother is hurt , you are no longer walking according to Jove" (14: 15). The example of Christ is given in Romans 15:3: "For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written , 'The reproaches of those who reproached thee fell upon me.' " In I Corinthians 8: 13 Paul's devotion to this principle can be seen when he says, "Therefore , if food causes my brother to stumble , I will never eat meat again, that I might not cause my brother to stumble ."
DRAWING THE LINE With this understanding of what Paul was really saying in Romans 14, one is now able to make the practical aplica tions. Although the problem of eating meats is not a vital issue in churches of today, there are matters of opinion which can and do become divisive. Among these are playing cards, attending movies, allowing kitchens in church build ings, etc. Each congregation has its own unique situation to which this principle is applied , whether it fits or not .
But the most difficult questi on in this whole study is just how far to go with a weak (or cantankerous?) brother. Should the church cater to the whims of every member? Should the brethren cease from everything that may be offensive to some one? If so, would there be anything left to do? To borrow from Shakespeare's , "Ah there's the rub!" Must the strong always concede to the wishes of the weak? If so, the church can be no stronger than its weakest member . It can do only that which the weakest and most poorly in formed member understands and approves. Is this the way God's army is supposed to march? 118 ABILEN E CHRI STIAN CoLLEGE L ECTURES
If the scrupulous ones go so far as to say to the more liberal , "You cannot be Christian if you do not do as we do ," then the limits of concession have been reached, and we are to do as Paul did when he flatly refused to yield one hair 's-breadth to the Judaizers. 9
The reference to Paul suggests an interesting study. There are examples of Paul's desire to be conciliatory to the weaker brethren , to become "all things to all men" (I Corinthians 9:22). He had Timothy circumcised in order to cut down prejudice (Acts 16:3) . It is true that this was to conciliate prospects for conversion and not weak brethren. Yet in Acts 21 :20-26 Paul offered to pay the expenses of the sacrifices of four men who had a Jewish vow. These were brethren, no doubt. Although he realized his freedom from the law of Moses, he was willing to go this far in order to please others with a weaker faith . But on the other hand Paul flatly opposed those Judaizers who taught Gentiles had to be circumcised to be saved (Acts 15: 1-2). Is Paul's attitude and action here parallel to Romans 14? Admittedly , these are not occasions of dealing with weaker brethren in every instance , but it does show that there is a point where conc iliation stops and conviction start s.
We are to be flexible as long as possible, and let weak brethren's scrup les restrain our action. But if they insist on things indifferent as essential , a yet higher duty than that of regard to their weak consciences comes in, and faithfuln ess to Christ limits.concession to His servants. 1 0
Time would forbid (as though lack of wisdom didn't) to Hst every occasion that may arise in local churches and to legislate whether the strong shou ld give in to the weak or should disregard the objections of the weak in the interest of the progress of the church as a whole. Some guidelines may be helpful. First , the strong is to refrain lest the weak be THE "WEAK" BROTHER OF ROMANS 14 119 emboldened to follow his example and thus sin against his conscience (I Corinthians 8: 10). One might ask if the overly scrupulous in his church are in danger of committing thi act by the examples of others. Second , this weak brother in Romans 14 is one who is new in the faith with problems that require patience and growth. Is this the same as some cantan kerous brother who objects to practices of the strong today?
One mu t consider the good of the whole church. Must the church be reduced to a vegetable because some brother or sister will object to every program that may be proposed? Is there not a time when the Lord's kingdom must come fir t, even over the objections of others? What was Paul aying in Romans 16: 17: "Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on tho e who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them"? Although there was the weak brother at Rome to whom the other must yield , there was the contentious brother who wa to be avoided.
Finally, this is the reason why God placed elders in the church. He knew that His Word could not legislate on every minute point of judgment. Therefore He delegated this authority to the pastors. They will need to decide how har mony will be achieved in dealing with the weak brother and take the lead in yielding to his scruples. They also are the ones who must see to it that God's church not suffer because of contention of those who would hinder its progress.
CONCLUSION
In Romans 14 Paul was showing that one's freedom in Christ is limited by his love and concern for hi brother. Out of love for his brother , one should be glad to forego some 120 ABILENE CHRISTIAN CoLLEGE LECTUR ES
liberty. The strong in faith are to welcome and accept the weak, they are to encourage them, and they are to see that all possible stumbling blocks to their Christian growth are removed.
Paul was not saying that the welfare of the church should be sacrificed for the scruples of a minority. While the individual is important, no one is worth impeding the pro gress of the entire congregation. In Roman s 14 Paul is dealing with personal matters that affect one's liberty in Christ, not scruples that would block the growth of the Lord's body.
FOOTNOTES
1 R. L. Whiteside , A New Commentary on Paul's Letter to the Saints at Rom e (Denton, Texas: lnys Whiteside, 1955) , pp. 266-{;7.
2 Anders Nygren, Commentary_ on Romans tr. by Carl C. Rasmus sen (Phila delphia : Muhlenberg Press, 1949), pp. 442-43.
3 Nietzsche, as quoted by Nygren, p. 443.
4 William Barclay, The Letter to the Romans (Philadelphia : The Westmin ster Press, 1957), p. 196.
5 William Sanday and Arthur C. Headlam, A Critical and Exegetical Commen tary on the Epistle to the Roman s (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1906) , p. 391 .
6 Barclay, p. 212.
7 Ibid., pp. 209-210.
8 Handley C. G. Moule, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans (London : Hodder and Stoughton, 1894), p. 389.
9 Alexander McClaren, Exposition of Holy Scripture, Romans, Corinthians (Grand Rapids : Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1944), p. 325. 1 O Ibid. TONGUES OF I CORINTHIANS 14 F. Furman Kearley , Ph.D.
Birth: Snowdown, Alabama, November 7, 1932
Married: Helen Joy Bowman, July 18, 1951
Children: Janice Gail and Amelia Lynn
Parents : J . A. Kearley and Zelman Suggs Kearley
Received B.A. from Alabama Christian College, June, 1954; M.A. in Religion from Harding College, May, 1956; M.Ed., Science Education , Auburn University, August, 1960; M.R.E.; M.Th. in Religion, May, 1965; Ph.D. in Hebrew and ear Eastern Studies, Hebrew Union College, June, 1971; special studies at Converse College, University of Cincinnati, and University of Alabama. Dr. Kearley has taught at Alabama Christian High School, Alabama Christian Col lege and presently serves as chairman of Biblical Studies Divisi on, Lubbock Christian College, as well as director of the Lubbock Christian College · Annual Lectureship.
The Assignment or the Statement of the Problem The assignment for this paper is to deal with the "problem of whether the tongues of I Corin thians 14 were merely
121 122 ABILEN E CHRI STIAN COLLEGE LECTURES ecstatic jabber with no language or meaning ; whether they were 'heavenly languages,' i.e. communicable languages but not understandable by human beings, or whether they were an ordinary human language understandable by some human beings but unknown to the assembly at Corinth."
Survey of Significant Positions
The above is a formidable task, as becomes very obvious when one surveys the literature on the ubject and observes the wide differences in the interpretations by the scholars. One writer observes ,
The finest scholars in the world are divided over whether this is an audible or inaudible muttering and whether it involved the use of some known foreign language - which was not known to the person speaking or the people to whom he was speaking . It is not possible to know for certain whether these ~ongues were always actual languages or not. 1
Philip Schaff states , "The term tongue has been differ ently explained . " 2 Then he proceeds to list seven different interpretations , particularly of the Pentecost experience.
1. The rationalistic interpretation denies the mira cle and attributes it to a mistake of the narrator.
2. Others explain it as a mistake of the hearers who in the state of extraordinary excitement and profound sympathy imagined that they heard their own .lan guage from the disciples.
3. The glosso lalia was speaking in archaic , poetic glosses, with an admixture of foreign words . THE "TONGUES" OF I CORINTHIANS 14 12 3
4. The my tical exp lanation regards the gift of tongues in some way as a counterpart of the confu ion of tongues, either as a temporary restoration of the original language of Paradise , or a a prophetic antic i pation of the language of heaven in which all lan guage are united.
5. The Pente costal glo solalia was a permanent endow ment of the apostles with a miraculous knowledge of all those foreign languages in which they were to preach the gospel.
6. It was a temporary speaki ng in foreign languages confined to the day of the Pentecost and passing away with the flame-like tongues.
7. The Pentecostal glossolalia was e en tiaJly the same as the Corinthian glossolalia, namely, an act of worship, and not of teaching. 3
Excluding the higher critica l theorie there are two basic po itions in the present day controversy among Bible believers. One po ition holds that , "The New Testament glossa gift is to be understood as being the ability to speak in foreign langu ages. It is to be so regarded in Corin th as well as Jerusalem." 4 The other position contends that tongue peaking, especial ly of I Corinthians 14, is to be regarded as a language of worship for thanksgiving, praise , and prayer. 5 Some regard this as unintelligible utterances , but other con sider it as communicab le languages of angels and heaven. On e even claimed that the languag e spoken in a miraculous tongue was Latin. 6 124 ABILENE CHRISTIAN CoLLEGE LECTURES
The Translations
The difficulty of the problem and the various views are reflected in the translation s. They may be divided into three categories: (1) those which translate glossa in a neutral manner, (2) those that translate it as a foreign language , and (3) those that translate it as an ecstatic , unintelligible lan guage. The American Standard Version , the Revised Standard Version, Phillips , and the New American Standard Version translate the Greek word as "tongue," thus taking a neutral position and leaving the decision to the reader as to which is the best approach. The New International Version translates as "tongue," but in the margin places "another language." The Living Bible Paraphrased boldly reads "speak in tongues, that is, to speak in languages you haven 't learned ." The King James Version reads "unknown tongue" with unknown in italics. The New English Bible renders as "language of ecstasy." The Today's English Version translates as "strange sounds ."
The commentaries , encyclopedias , dictionaries , and lexicons are as hopelessly divided on the interpretation of the phenomenon. Scholars of the stature of James MacKnight ,7 J. W. McGarvey, 8 David Lipscomb,9 and others understand the Corinthian experience, like the Pentecostal experience, to be the speaking of foreign languages by the power of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, perhaps , a larger number of scholars, including the commentators in the Int ernational Criti ca l Commentar y, The Pulpit Commentary, The Expositor's Greek Testament and others , hold that the tongues at Corinth were ecstatic utterances and not human languages. THE "TONGUES" OF I CORINTHIANS 14 125
Author's Position in Proposition Form
In the light of the above, it would seem presumptive for anyone to take a dogmatic position either way. However, in humility , recognizing the complexity of the study, let this author state his position in the form of a proposition and then present evidence to support it. Proposition: The act of speaking in tongues at Corin th was the act of speaking in foreign languages of our earth which the speakers had not studied but were empowered to speak by the spiritual gift given through the Holy Spirit. Further, they were foreign languages unknown to the regular assembly at Corinth.
Evidence and Arguments to Support the Proposition
First. A standard rule of hermeneutics is that obscure passages are explained by clear passages on the same subject. It is clear from Acts 2: 1-13 that the Greek word glossa is used to mean foreign language or dialect. This Greek word glossa is used in the Greek New Testament fifty times. 1 0 Many times it refers to the organ of speech or in metonymy of speech for the person who possesses the tongue (i.e. Mark 7: 33; Acts 2:26). Other times it is clearly used to refer to foreign languages (i.e. Rev. 5:9; 7:9; etc.). Glossa is used twenty-six times to refer to the miraculous gift of tongues. Three of these are concerning the events on Pentecost in Acts 2. It is clear in this context that glossa is equivalent to dialektos or tongue means the same as dialect or language. Verse 4 says the apostles "spoke with other tongues (glossa)." Verse 6 states "every man heard them speaking in his own language (dialektos)." Verse 8 quotes the people, "How hear we, every man in our own language (dia/ektos) wherein we were born." Then verse 11 quotes the people, "We hear them speaking in our tongues (g/ossa) the mighty 126 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
works of God." Therefore , there can be no doubt that in this passage the miraculous tongues were the foreign languages of the foreign people listed as being present on Pentecost.
Second. At the conversion of Cornelius , the Gentiles received the gift of the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues (Acts 10: 45, 46). Peter observed that they received the "like gift" as the apostles on Pentecost (Acts 11: 17). The term "like gift" encompasses the baptism of the Holy Spirit but certainly includes the manifestation of speaking in tongues. If Luke means to imply that tongues in Acts 10 are different from those of Acts 2, it behooves him to state it plainly. The natural thing would be to assume that the same author means the same thing by the same word in the context of miraculous activity. Since Luke gives no other exp lanation , it is logical to assume that tongues in Acts I 0:46 were foreign languages. The same is true of Acts 19:6. Not only is that true of the book of Acts , but since the Holy Spirit is the autho r of both Acts and I Corinthians, it is logical and reasonable that if he meant something different by tongues in I Corinthians 14, he would have made it clear. One authority affirms,
It is believed that there is a preponderance of evidence leading us to look on the phenomena of Pentecost as repre sentative. It must have 'been from them that the word "tongue" derived its new and special meaning. The com panion of Paul and Paul himself were likely to use the same word in the same sense . In the absence of a distinct noti ce to the contrary , it is probable that the gift wou ld manifest itself in the same form at Corinth as at Jerusalem. The "divers kinds of tongues " (I Cor. xii, 28), the "to ngues of men" (xiii, 1), point to differ ences of some kind, and it is at least easier to conceive of these as differences of language than as belonging to utt era nces all equa lly wild and inarticulate. 1 1 THE "TONGUES" OF I CORINTHIANS 14 127
Third. When the phrase "foreign language" is translated in all the twenty-six places where glossa is used of miraculous speaking, the translation makes perfect sense. Since we know in Acts 2 that glossa is foreign languages and the same trans lation throughout I Corinthians 14 makes perfect sense, why should one seek further for a hidden meaning. In the light of the clear meaning of glossa as foreign language there is no reason to reject this and look further for an exotic meaning.
Fourth. There is no evidence of ecstatic or strange and uncontrollable behavior on the part of those who spoke in tongues at Corinth or any place. Some scholars let their imagination run away with them when making an exposition of the text. Barclay says, "a man became worked up to an ecstasy and a frenzy" and he describes tongue speaking as an "uncontrollable torrent of sounds. " 1 2 Paul directly contra dicts Barclay and states "let him keep silence" and "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (I Cor. 14:28, 32). These statements indicate that those with miraculous gifts did have control over themselves. If the Holy Spirit wanted to describe the behavior of the Corinthians as ecstatic he had the word to do it. The Greek word ekstasis is used seven times in the New Testament, but not even one time in all the Corinthian epistles. It is the height of audacity for translators to use a word the Holy Spirit could have used if he wanted to but choose not to use.
Fifth. Paul in I Corinthians 14 is dealing with an abusive use of tongues . Therefore, it is not possible to consider the practice followed at Corinth as normal and approved in the church as a whole. It is even possible that some at Corinth were trying to counterfeit the real gift of tongues, that is, trying to pretend they had it when they really did not. 1 3 128 ABILENE CHRISTIAN CoLLEGE LECTURES
Sixth . In I Corinthians 14:21 , Paul quotes from Isaiah 28: 11. It is clear from both contexts that foreign human languages are under consideration . One purpose for Paul quoting Isaiah is to indicate that tongue speaking by Christians was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah. Therefore, the Christians were speaking foreign languages.
Seventh. In I Corinthians 14: 18, Paul says, "I speak with tongues more than you all." This statement definitely signifies an unspecified number of different but specific systems of communication. Thus, tongues were not just noises and inarticulate sounds but specific communicable languages. It fits the context best here to say that Paul spoke with more foreign languages than anyone else.
Eighth . I Corinthians 14:22 affirms that tongues are not a sign for believers but for unbelievers. Verse 23 indicates that the unbeliever would consider the tongue speaker in the assembly as one mad or raving. How are these statements to be harmonized? If tongues are a sign for the unbeliever , why would they not be as effective a sign in the assembly as any other place? The obvious conclusion to this writer is that the tongue speaker was not speaking the language of the unbeliever under consideration . The Corinthian tongue speaker was just showing off his gift by speaking languages of far away places. He was not trying to exhort the unbeliever in his own language. If tongues were just inarticulate sounds , they would have been just as much a sign to the unbeliever at one place and time as another. Tongues were a sign to those at Pentecost because they heard them speaking in their own native language. This was the case at Corinth also. THE "T ONGUES" OF I CORINTHIANS 14 129
Objections to the Proposition
Normal procedure would call for an examination of objections to the proposition. However, due to limitations of time and space this is not possible. Many of these will no doubt be raised during the discussion session.
The Main Me~age of I Corinthians 12-14
In much of the discussion about tongues the main message of Paul is passed over. Here are at least three main points Paul is stressing. 1. Christians must place the love and concern for the church; the body of Christ, far above their personal selfishness, pride, and vain glory in their spiritual gifts, especially the spectacular one of tongues. 2. Tongues are not to be used in the assembly unless they are used for edification and teaching. They can only be used if there is an interpretation. 3. Tongues and all nine spiritual gifts were transient, temporary. They would pass away when the complete or mature was come. They were a part of the immaturity. For people to be striving for these gifts today indicates they are still striving for the immature things.
Final Observations
It is indeed tragic and sad for division and strife to exist today in the church over a gift, that even when it clearly existed, Paul relegated to an insignificant role in the function and worship of the church . Five understandable words are more to be desired than ten thousand words spoken in an l 30 ABILENE CHRISTIAN CoLLEGE LECTURES untranslated tongue. If any are going to seek a gift today why don't they seek the gift of prophecy .
Lastly , in this writer's opinion the discussion about the nature of tongues in I Corinthians 14 is largely academic because this gift passed away with the maturing of the church. Therefore, the gift of tongues , whatever its nature , is not available or needed by Christians today . Vine sums this up in good language.
There is no evidence of the continuance of this gift after Apostolic times nor indeed in the later times of the Apostles themselves ; this provides confirmation of the ful fillment in this way of I Cor. 13: 8, that this gift would close in the churches, just as would "prophecies" and "knowledge" in the sense of knowledge received by immediate supernatural power (cp. 14:6). The completion of the Holy Scriptures has provided the churches with all that is necessary for individual and collective guidance, instruction, and edification. 14 THE "T ONGUES" OF I CORINTHIANS 14 131
FOOTNOTES 1 John McRay, "Spiiitual Gifts in Fiist Century Worship" Integrity Jan., 1972, p. 107.
2 Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (Grand Rapids : Eerdmans Publishing Co., reprint 1960) Vol. I, pp. 235-241.
3 Loe. cit.
4 Jimmy Jividen, Glossolalia from God or Man? (Fort Worth : Star Bible Publications , 1971) p. 195.
5 John Short , The First Epistle to the Corinthians in The Interpreter's Bible (New York : Abingdon Press, 1953) Vol. 10, pp. 197, 198. See also Schaff, op. cit. p. 235.
6 Pat Boone, A New Song (Carol Stream, Illinois: Creation House, 1970) pp. 109-129.
7 James MacKnight, Apostolical Epistles (Grand Rapids : Baker Book House, reprint 1949) pp. 191-196 .
8 J. W. McGarvey and Philip Pendelton, The Standard Bible Commentary on Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans (Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Co., 1916) pp. 133-144.
9 David Lipscomb and J. W. Shepherd, The Gospel Advocate Commentary on First Corinthians (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Co., reprint 1968) pp. 204-219 10 W. F. Moulton and A. S. Geden , A Concordance to the Greek Testament (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, Fourt h edition , reprinted 1970) pp. 172, 173. Robert Young , Analytic al Concordance to the Bible (New York: Funk and Wagnalls Company , 22nd American Edition, Revised by Wm. B. Stevenson) p. 994. 11 John M'Clintock and James Strong , Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature (New York : Harper Brothers, Publisher, 1894) Vol. JO p. 483.
1 2 William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, Second edition, 1956) pp. 141, 142
13 Jiinmy Jividen, op. cit., p. 195.
14 W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Westwood, N.J .: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1966) p. 143. WOMEN, HEADDRESS, LONG HAIR, ETC. I CORINTHIANS 11: 2ff. Neil R. Lightfoot
Neil R. Lighttoot is a native of Waco, Texas. He was baptized in 1944 by John T. Smith. In 1947 he enrolled at Freed-Hardeman College from which he was graduated in 1949. After one year at Florida Christian College he entered Baylor University where he obtained the B.A. and M.A. degrees in philosophy. Later he entered Duke University where in 1958 he received the Ph.D. His dissertation was A Critical Examination of the Revised Standard Version of the New Testament.
Lightfoot has preached for the Lakeview Church , Waco, Texas ; South Main Church, Winston-Salem, N. C.; Vaughn Road Church , Burlington, N. C.; and Eleventh and Willis Church, Abilene , Texas. He now serves as an elder in the latter congregation. He holds several meetings each year and has spoken on the campuses of a number of colleges and universities.
In 1958 he joined the faculty of Abilene Christian College where he is Professor of Bible and Graduate Advisor in New Testament. He has written three books: How We Got the Bible, The Parables of Jesus (Part 1), The Parables of Jesus (Part II) . The first of these was also published in hardback and has gone through several printings. The last two have been combined into a hardback edition and has been selected for distribution by The Pulpit Digest bookclub and Evangelical Books. He has also written two filmstrip series- How We Got the Bible and Now That I Am A Chris-
132 I CORINTHIANS 11 :2-16 133
tian- published by Gospel Services, Houston, Texas. He has contributed articles to Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias. He is listed in Who's Who in R eligion, Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Int ernational Biography, Personalities of the South, and Directory of American Scholars. In 1951 he was married to Ollie Robinson of Ravia, Oklahoma. They have three daughters, Donna Lynn, Lu Anne, and Michelle.
It is with pleasure that l speak on this passage today. I come with the hope that God will enable me to cast a small bit of light on a passage acknowledged by all as exceptionally difficult.
Paul's Views on Women
It is regrettable that this passage, along with I Corin thians 14:34 and I Timothy 2: 11-12, are the only passages taken by some as representative of Paul's views on women. With this narrow perspective it is concluded that Paul taught that women were inferior to men and through his writings has to the present suppressed the rights of women. Indeed , by today's "liberated women," according to Newsw eek,'
Newsweek, Nov. 2 , 1970 , p. 81. 134 ABILENE CHRISTIAN CoLLEGE LECTURES
Paul "rates a high olace on the list of all-time male chau vinists."
To the contrary , the writings of Paul have done more for women than the writings of all femini sts combined. The world that Paul knew fenced in its women. The Jewish woman had very few rights of her own. her marriage was agreed upon by a trade between her father and her future husband . She was first and foremost a sexual being ; she was to bear children for the husband's family. She was his possession ; even what she earned belonged to him. The husband, on his own will, could dissolve the marriage ; the wife could not. The girl in the home could be taught the Scriptures, but she was not permitted to receive instruction in the oral law. The woman's sphere was in the home and that was her realm of glory. In fact , because she was mother in the home, this above all else gave her rights with her husband. She was to be honored , as taught in the Decalogue (Ex. 20: 12); she was to be greatly respected , as taught in Proverbs (20 :20; 23 :22; 30:17; 31 : lOff) ; but from th e early periods of Jewish history on down , women unqu estionably were considered inferior to men. 2
In Greek society the status of woman varied in time and place , but mostly it was under that of the man. The woman was generally uneducated , except in domestic matters ; she took no part in political life and was the property of the
2 See Joseph W. Gaspar, Social Ideas in the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament, p. 62ff ; E. A. Leonard , "St. Paul on the Status of Women," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 12 (1950), p. 31 lff .; J. Jeremias , Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, p. 359ff; The Jewish Ency clopedia, articles on "Woman," " Husband and wife," " Marriage, " etc.; R. de Vaux ,Ancient Israel, p. 24ff . I CORJNTHIANS11 :2-16 135
man , whether wife , mistress , or slave. Roman women enjoyed more freedom , especially in the latter days of the republic onward ; and by the beginning of the Christian era, woman's place in many respects was equal to that of the man.
Again st this background of inequality Paul , following the example of Jesus , proclaimed the good new to women as well a men: to Lydia and the other women at Philippi (Acts 16: 13), to the leading women of Macedonia at The salonica (Acts 17:4) and at Beroea (Acts 17:12). In hi letters he sends greeting to both men and women (Rom. 16; Philemon 1: 2). Twice he greets the two-part team of Priscilla and Acq uila, with Priscilla's name mentioned first (Rom. 16: 3-4; 2 Tim. 4 : 19). In Romans 16 Paul greets eighteen men and eleven women by name. He refers to others : Lois and Eunice (2 Tim . I :5) ; Euodia and Synty che at Philippi who "labored ide by side" with him in the gospel (Phil. 4: 2-3) ; and Chloe of Corinth (I Cor. I: 11). It was from Chloe's household , either freedmen or slaves, that Paul had learned much about troubl es in the Corinthian church. It is-to be remembered , therefore , that when Paul writes about women wearing veils at Corinth , he writes not at all in terms of a wholesale denun ciation of women .
Rea ons For Difficulties
Several factors contribute to making I Corinthians 11 especially difficult to und erstand . A first difficulty is that we do not know the cu toms of the times and of the ancient wor ld as well a we would like. It used to be confident ly asserted that pra ctically everywhere among the ancients women wore veils in public. Commentary after commentary repea ts this tatem ent. But this is now a matter of genuine 136 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
di agreement among specialists on this point and especially with reference to the headdress of Greek women. There are indication that the Greek woman was not always under the obligation to wear the veil in public. At times women in fe tival pro cessions are de cribed in detail , and no mention is made of veils. Empresses and goddesses are portrayed without veils. Plut arch , on the other hand , writing at the clo e of the first century A. D. , presents a diff erent picture. He says that , among the Spartans , girls went to public places unveiled; but married women appeared veiled. 3 He also unequivocally states that it was the u ual thing for women to go out in publi c with their heads covered and men with their head s uncovered. 4 Yet in the same conne ction he says that formerly women were not allowed to cover the head at all.5 Plutar ch al o says in th e same pas age that it was cu tomary for men to cut their hair and women to allow their hair to grow. PI u ta rch 's statements on women being veiled are supported by what is recognized as the univer al practice in the East. At Tar sus, a woman , when she went out , was heavily veiled. 6 At Jeru salem, when a woman left her house , she was covered with two head-veils ; and if she went out unveiled, her husb and had the right and even duty of putting her away because she had acted indiscreetly. 7 And farther
3 Sayings of Spartans, Charillus, 2 . 4 The Roman Questions, 14. 5 Ibid. 6 See Sir William Ram ay (The Cities of St. Paul, pp. 201-205) who draws upon the works of Dio Chryso tom (early 2nd c.) . 7 Jeremias, op. cit., 359-360. I CORINTIDANS11: 2-16 137 east , among the Assyrians, the rule was more strict: worn-en were veiled and harlots always were to be unveiled on threat of death. 8
A second difficulty is that we do not know enough about the specific problems in the Corinthian church. The Christians there had written to Paul and had asked him cer tain questions (I Cor. 7: I). His answers to these questions begin in chapter 7; and the clues to Paul's answers are given in the words "now concerning" (7:1, 8:1; 12:1). Following these clues we are able to piece together something of these questions ; but still all we have are Paul's answers which can be understood only obliquely by us. We may compare it to a telephone conversation where only one part of the conver sation is being heard. The Corinthians had written Paul about a number of matters. We do not have their letter; that is, to use the illustration, we cannot hear their end of the conver sation. We can only hear Paul, and that often concerning things we are not familiar with. This should help explain why the passage on veils is for us so difficult.
What Paul Says
I Corinthians 11: 2 begins a new section that deals with public worship. The last part of the chapter undoubtedly concerns public worship, and there is a close connection between "I commend you" in verse 2 and "I do not commend you" in verse 17. Further, verses 4-5 speak of
8 On the varying customs of ancient veiling, see Theological Dictionary on the New Testament, III, 562. Hereafter cited as T.D.N .T. 138 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES praying and prophesying , act1v1ties that normally took place in the assembly. If it is possible to hear one end of a conver sation and still to some extent be able to determine what is said on the other end , then perhaps it is possible to recon struct something of the situation that existed at Corinth. Men and women at Corinth were endowed with extraordinary gifts of the Spirit (I Cor. J 2:4ff). These gifts included the gift of prophecy, the gift that enabled one to give teachings inspired by the Spirit. Women, too, could, prophesy. Should they exercise their prophetic gift in the presence of men? If so, should they try to give a divine message underneath a veil? Or should they use their freedom in Christ , remove their veils, and prophesy freely among those who constitute the one family of God? It was questions like these that the Corin thians had posed to Paul, or matters like this that had been communicated to Paul by Chloe's household. These were important considerations for the Corinthians and for Paul since the ancient world looked upon styles of dress as indi cations of national customs or moral habits. Whatever the custom was, ancient people were scrupulous in not deviating from it.
Paul tells the Corinthians plainly that their women are to be veiled in public gatherings . This means that the customs Plutarch spoke of at the end of the fir t century must have been in vogue at Corinth. He could scarcely have reasoned so forcefully unless in their society it was out of order for a woman to cut her hair or pray bareheaded. Paul's arguments can be re-shaped according to a fourfold pattern.
1. The theological argument. The argument is "theo logical" because it is God-centered. Paul's statement here begins with Christ, works downward to man and woman, and then ascends upward to God . Paul's term here is "head": I CORINTHIANS 11 :2-16 139
Christ is the head of man , man is the head of woman, etc. "Head" means either "origin" or "superiority"; the latter term fits better because the Scriptures do not teach elsewhere that God is the origin of Christ. Christ is, however , repre sented as being subordinate to God, a subordination that he assumed in becoming man. Woman similarly, or perhaps wife (if Paul is speaking only of the husband-wife relationship) , has a subordinate function to man. The point is that Christ is over man , man is over woman, and God is over all. Since covering the head is a sign of subordination , then , Paul reasons that it would be disgraceful if the man is veiled and disgraceful also if the woman is unveiled . If the woman is to appear unveiled , she might as well have her hair cut 0r shaved off - which at Corinth was a symbol of immodesty. Paul continues Ws theological argument in verses 7-9. Woman's position as subordinate is part of the created order. Man is the image of God and mirror His glory; and, like God , exercises dominion. But woman reflects the glory of man since she was taken from his side and was made for him. The latter expression means that woman was to be his helper , not that she was to be his slave or elfish pos ession.
2. The angelogical argument. The woman ought to be veiled "because of the angels" (vs. 10). This is an additional argument given in the conclusion of the theological argu ment. We will return to this statement later.
3. The sociological argument. This argument can be termed "sociological" because it pertains to their society. In verses 13-15 Paul appeals to their own judgment as to what was decent and proper at Corinth . He says, "You judge for yourselves" (cf. 10: 15). "Do you think it appropriate that a woman should pray uncovered? Is it not according to nature that a man should wear short hair and a woman wear long 140 ABILEN E CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
hair? If a woman shou ld wear long hair, that in itself is an indication that she ought to be covered in the assembly."
4. The ecclesiastica l argument. This is Paul's final argu ment , an appeal to the practice of the churches . "If anyone is contentious, we have no such custom . .. " (vs. 16). This cannot mean , "If anyone strives over this or causes trouble , then dismiss the whole u bject." Paul would not give prolonged reasoning for the veiling of women and then drop the subject with one statement. Nor is it likely that he means - "If anyone wants to dispute about it still, remember that it is neither our practice nor the practice of the churches to dispute." His intention is not so much to censure the contentious spirit as to supply an additional answer for any pos ible objection. "If any further objection is raised about women wearing veils," he says, "I would add that it is neither the aposto lic practice nor the practice of the churches in general to do otherwi e."
Questions Raised
In the remaining time I want to consider some of the main questions that Paul 's teachings raise. In treating these I will have to be brief ; but perhaps questions from the audience will allow further consideration of these problems.
1. Is Paul here speaking of a veil at all? Several views are held. One is that long hair is the covering: woman's hair is given to her for (anti , instead of) a covering. The Greek word anti generally denote substitution; so the woman is to have long hair as a covering and nothing more. But this does not fit in with verses 5-6. If the covering is merely long hair, there would be no need to argue that being uncovered is the same I CORINTHIANS 11: 2-16 141 as being shaved. This would make Paul's argument amount to only a truism.
Another view is that the covering refers to a particular hairstyle. A woman is said to be covered if her hair is pinned up on her head, or a woman is said to be uncovered if her hair is undone and permitted to hang loosely. This view emphasizes that the Greek expression in verse 4 literally means "having down from the head." However, this over looks the force of the same constru ction found in Plutarch which clearly means "having the head covered" with a garment. 9 That is why lexicons and translations agree in rendering the passage in terms of a veil on the head.
2. What is the meaning of verse 10- "authority on her head because of the angels"? The statement is extremely difficult. Probably Paul is using "authority" as a metonomy of the sign for the thing signified: the veil signifies the authority to which woman is submissive.' 0 Then, why "because of the angels"? Probably because the angels, who uphold the divine order of creation , are represented as being present in the worship assemblies (cf. Ps. 138:1). For this there are parallels in the Qumran literature.' 1
3. Is Paul's teaching here in contradiction to his instruc-
9 Plutar ch, Say ings of Roman s, 13. 1 o Cf. T.D.N.T ., 11, 574 . 11 See J. A. Fitzmyer , " A Feature of (Jumran Angelogy and the Angels of I Cor. XI. 10," New Testament Studi es 4 (1957 ), 48-58 ; H. J. Cadbury , "A Qurnran Parallel to Paul," Harvard Theological R eview 5 l (1958) , 1-2. 12 See J. W. Robert s, Lett ers to Timoth y , p . 19, on I Tim . 2 referring to the assembly . 142 ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE LECTURES
tions in I Corinthians 14:34 and I Timothy 2 : 12? No; for in these passages he speaks of the silence of women in the assemblies 1 2 and in this passage of the subordination of women in assembly. But does not I Corinthians 11 speak of a woman's praying and prophesying? Yes; but in particular of pneumatic endowments. And even when the woman prays or prophesies under the guidance of the Spirit , she is to do so with veil on.
4. How does Paul's teaching on the wearing of veils apply today? In my opinion it does not. For Corinthian women to be in the assembly unveiled was shocking and disgraceful in their society, so immodest that they might as well cut off their hair like harlots . Today in our society it is not shocking or immoral either for a woman to be without a covering or for her to have her hair cut. "Greet one another with a holy kiss" is a custom that has changed; and so here Paul speaks of a custom that is unmeaningful to our society.
5. Does Paul's teaching on long and short hair apply today? Of course, the question always comes up as to how long is long and how short is short. The matter is relative . It should be kept in mind that even Paul placed this in the sociological realm . His whole argument at this point concerns what they judged appropriate and fitting. "Does not nature itself teach you?" - by which Paul means natural feelings, not natural laws. This is in keeping with his "judge-in-yourselves" type of argument. Although we today may have strong preferences about length of hair, and so forth , it would be incorrect to use Paul's sociological argument (related to that
12 See J. W. Roberts , Letters to Timothy, p. 19, on l Tim. 2 referring to the assembly. I CORINTHIANS11: 2-16 143 society) and bind it as a moral obligation on people today .
The situation at Corinth, and Paul's teachings with refer ence to it, presents a number of imponderables . It is difficult to advance along a road with few signposts. But certain things are clear. Christianity did not come to unsex woman. It came to raise and dignify her as woman. In Christ, it is true , there is neither male nor female . The full statement of the passage is: "There is neither Jew nor Greek , there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28) . Paul recognized outward differences between Jew and Greek. Paul distin guished between Philemon the master and Onesimus the slave. Paul here wants the Corinthians to observe differences between men and women . His argument is not only socio logical; it is theological, turning again and again on the created order. The created order , contrary to custom, is valid in all times and places. Outwardly , therefore , there are differ ences between men and women , and these differences must always be observed. In Christ, spiritually speaking, however , all are one. It is the religion of Christ that brings people together.